Pussy Riot Member Nadya Tolokonnikova Found At Remote Siberian Hospital; Activist Had Been Missing for Three Weeks

Pussy Riot member Nadya Tolokonnikova has been located in a remote hospital in Siberia. The political activist musician disappeared more than three weeks ago while being transferred in Russia's draconian prison system.

Pyotr Verzilov, the husband of Pussy Riot's Nadya Tolokonnikova, went public three weeks ago saying that the musician was missing, amidst rumors that she had been killed. Nadya was finally at a Siberian hospital.

Verzilov is himself a radical Russian artist. He said he got a phone call Friday morning from an acquaintance who told him "Your wife is at the TB clinic in Krasnoyarsk."

Tolokonnikova was missing for 21 days in the Russian prison system. The Pussy Riot activist was lost during a prison transfer somewhere between the Mardova region and Siberia. Verzilov said the news was "a big joy."

Verzilov said Nadya was being treated at Tuberculosis Hospital No. 1. The hospital treats a wide range of diseases. Verzilov was allowed to speak with his wife yesterday by hospital authorities. Verzilov said was invited to come to the hospital, where he would be allowed to speak to his wife by video linkup.

Verzikov was waiting for his wife to arrive at a different prison, the IK-50 women's prison, which is 300 kilometers away from Krasnoyarsk.

Verzilov told the Daily Beast "It was strange to be so close with Nadia, in two different buildings of the same hospital but see each other on video. She seemed to be feeling well. She looked so beautiful in her new dark blue-and-white checkered prison pajamas."

Verzilov told The Daily Beast he was not able to record the video conversation because the convoy setting up video cameras was in the same room with him.

Zoya Svetova, an independent observer of the Russia's corrections system, said Pussy Riot have "shaken up the [prison] system" in Russia. Pussy Riot members continued their activism while they are jailed by staging hunger strikes and numerous appeals to ease harsh penal conditions.

Nadia  Tololonnikova published a letter from prison earlier this year describing the dismal prison conditions. Svetova said "Thanks to Tolokonnikova's efforts, women at her former prison do not have to sew for 16 hours every day, they now work only for eight hours."

Verzilov and Nadia Tolokonnikova were allowed to speak for only 15 minutes. Tolokonnikova told Verzilov about the prison transfer, which took weeks on the road.

The Pussy Riot guitarist was not able to send her husband a note because she was being watched closely by guards on the trains and at the occasional stops it made vat transit prisons. Verzilov said his wife was reading two books at the hospital: a recent novel by Russian modern artist Vladimir Sorokin and a biography of Russian president Boris Yeltsin. Verzilov said he brought Nadya more books and her favorite Medovik, a honey cake. Nadya's birthday was last week.

Verzilov said "She was very happy to hear news on complaints she had previously filed, prosecutors decisions and investigations against violations against her at her previous prison Mordova. I also quickly told her about one more of our friends facing a five year sentence for art activism. Without seeing pictures of [Pyotr] Pavlensky nailed on the Red Square, she could not imagine the scene-- she asked me to tell her more later."

Verzilov hopes to have a proper date with his wife next week.