A jailed activist of the Russian punk band 'Pussy Riot' has announced hunger-strike after being refused the right to attend the court hearing her parole appeal, Russian media reported on Wednesday.
Maria Alyokhina, who was taking part in the proceedings at the Berezniki City Court in the Perm Territory via a video link from her prison, refused to continue and barred her defense team from representing her after being denied transportation to the courthouse.
Her band colleague Nadezhda Tolokonnikova was denied parole last month.
The two women were jailed for two years in August for a breach of public order motivated by religious hatred stemming out of a "punk prayer" they staged at Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral in February 2012 in protest against President Vladimir Putin's re-election campaign.
Though an appeal court suspended the sentence of a third band member, Yekaterina Samutsevich, in October, it upheld the jail terms for Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina.
Alyokhina has also asked her lawyers to withdraw from the hearing until she was allowed to attend the court in person, and vowed not take part in any further proceedings via video links, the report said.
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