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As a founding member of the Russian feminist protest band, Pussy Riot, Maria Alyokhina became known around the world for performing "Punk Prayer" in a Moscow Cathedral, wearing a coloured, knitted balaclava and a fluorescent dress. She spent two years in a penal colony because she criticised Vladimir Putin and the Orthodox Church’s political alignment. After she got out, in 2014, her protests against President Putin continued. Faced with a new prison sentence and under house arrest, she escaped Russia in May 2022. Maria's memoir, "Political Girl - Life and Fate in Russia", has just been published and she's been speaking to Weekend's Paul Henley.
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