Pussy Riot member says she has no regrets

Says trial showed 'the true face of Putin's system'

9/2/2012
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, right, Yekaterina Samutsevich, left, and Maria Alekhina, center, members of feminist punk group Pussy Riot seen behind a glass wall at a court in Moscow, Russia, on Aug. 17.
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, right, Yekaterina Samutsevich, left, and Maria Alekhina, center, members of feminist punk group Pussy Riot seen behind a glass wall at a court in Moscow, Russia, on Aug. 17.

BERLIN — Jailed Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova says she regrets nothing about the band's anti-government performance in a cathedral that got them convicted of hooliganism and sentenced to two years behind bars.

Tolokonnikova told Germany's Der Spiegel magazine in an interview released Sunday that her conviction with her two band mates were Russian President Vladimir "Putin's personal revenge" which served to put a global spotlight on his government.

She says, "I think the bottom line is that the trial against us was important because it showed the true face of Putin's system."

Der Spiegel said the performer's answers to the magazine's questions were provided through her lawyer, who is allowed to visit her in prison.

She says Pussy Riot's goal remains "a revolution in Russia."