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Two members of Pussy Riot arrested in Sochi
2/18/2014 1:17:38 PM
- NEW: Pussy Riot members were approached by officials in plain clothes, a bandmate says
- Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were meeting journalists
- Police detained them, three other band members, activists and journalists
- They were in Sochi to record an anti-Putin political protest song
Sochi, Russia (CNN) -- Just six days to go in the Sochi Olympics, and the Games seemed to be going off without major political side effects.
Not a hint of the long-speculated terror threat, hardly a voice of dissent in Putin's Russia -- until Tuesday.
Then two members of the band Pussy Riot, notorious government critics, were detained in central Sochi, one of their husbands told CNN. It set off a social media firestorm.
Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were in town to protest against the lack of freedom of speech. Their prime target -- Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The pair was planning to record a critical song in Sochi in English called "Putin will teach you love the homeland."
They were meeting with journalists when police detained them, Tolokonnikova's husband, Petr Verzilov, said. Reports in Russian media confirmed the detention.
An ugly stroll
A group of about 10 officials in plain clothes stopped the two while they were walking down the street with the journalists, three other members of Pussy Riot who use pseudonyms, and two local activists, said "Tank," one of the anonymous bandmates.
They asked them for some identification.
The officials said something about a theft in the hotel where the band members were staying, and that they suspected Tolokonnikova had something to do with it, Tank said.
The officers took the band members, activists and journalists in for questioning.
Alyokhina, Tolokonnikova and Tank took to their cell phones and to Twitter to let the world know about it.
Detention apparently has not stopped them from getting their message out.
Tolokonnikova posted photos of what she claims is a vehicle taking her to a police station.
Alyokhina posted a tweet saying they had had been detained near the Church of Mikhail the Archangel and were accused of committing a crime. Officers forced them into a police van, she said.
Tank called CNN from the police station, complaining about having to wait there with no information from police.
They were not put in handcuffs, she said.
A tweet went out saying they were being questioned without a lawyer present.
Recently free
Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova were recently released from prison, ahead of the Sochi Olympics.
The band members were thrown in jail for nearly two years after they were convicted of "hooliganism" and inciting religious hatred for performing a riotous punk song slamming Putin in a Moscow cathedral and posting a video of it online.
A third member of Pussy Riot, Yekaterina Samutsevich, was released in 2012.
In February, other members of the band distanced themselves from Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina, saying the two no longer belonged to Pussy Riot.
Not so, Verzilov said Tuesday. They are still in the band.
Since their release, the two have given many interviews to journalists about their time behind bars, describing the conditions in prison as squalid and their treatment by guards as demeaning and inhumane.
They have said that the threat of imprisonment will not prevent them from protesting.
READ: U.S. and Russian diplomats spar over Pussy Riot
READ: Amanpour blog: Pussy Riot tells Amanpour: 'We are free people, and free people feel no fear'
CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reported from Sochi, and Ben Brumfield wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Ivan Watson, Carol Jordan and Alla Eshchenko also contributed to this report.
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