Pussy Riot’s Peter Verzilov was seized at his apartment Sunday morning (June 21) and detained by anti-extremist police, Associated Press reports, citing the Russian state news agency Tass. He was interrogated for 13 hours under suspicion of organizing riots in July of 2019, according to a statement by Pussy Riot. The group counters that, on the day of the riots, Verzilov was in Estonia meeting the country’s president.
After being released, Verzilov was confronted by a police “provocateur,” Pussy Riot allege in the statement. He was arrested a second time and charged with hooliganism, the group says. He has not yet been charged with the more serious crime of organizing mass riots.
Verzilov was one of four Pussy Riot members sentenced to prison in 2018 for storming the pitch during that year’s World Cup final. In the months after his release, Verzilov was poisoned, according to doctors in Germany. He was treated in Berlin after being flown out of Russia amid fears of state involvement.