MOSCOW, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, the jailed musician who is on a hunger strike in a Russian prison, has been moved to a prison medical unit, authorities said Friday.
Tolokonnikova, a member of the band Pussy Riot, has been in prison for 11 months. She and band members Maria Alyokhina and Yekaternia Samutsevich were sentenced last summer to two years in prison for hooliganism for participating in a "punk prayer" protest against Russian President Vladimir Putin at a cathedral in Moscow.
Tolokonnikova, who is due to be released in March, was recently moved to her own cell after she complained of threats from prisoners and prison employees.
She began her hunger strike to protest "slave life conditions" for prisoners.
The Federal Penitentiary Service confirmed Friday Tolokonnikova was transferred to the prison hospital "on the recommendation of doctors," RIA Novosti reported.
Citing an Interfax report, the Russian state news service said Tolokonnikova's husband, Pyotr Verzilov, accused prison officials of moving her "to block access" to her.
Verzilov said lawyers have been denied a meeting with Tolokonnikova "for the first time" since she began her incarceration and prison authorities refused to transfer documents on the transfer to the prison clinic.
Tolokonnikova's lawyer said she felt "very weak" and has experiencing low blood pressure and low blood sugar after drinking only water during the hunger strike.
Samutsevich's sentence was changed to a suspended sentence and she was released from jail in October 2012. Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina have both been denied their requests for parole.
