Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, of Pussy Riot fame, is currently serving a sentence in Russian jail for inciting religious hatred and has issued a statement declaring that she is going on hunger strike. 

In the update, she explains that the women in the prison are being treated 'like cattle' and are forced into partaking in what is essentially slave labour: 

"Beginning September 23rd, I am going on hunger strike and refusing to participate in colony slave labor. I will do this until the administration starts obeying the law and stops treating incarcerated women like cattle."

Tolokonnikova added that the inmates have to pull 17-hour sewing shifts, in which they fix prison guards' uniforms, and they're left with bloodied hands and injuries: "Your hands are pierced with needles and covered in scratches, your blood is all over the work table, but still you keep sewing."

Back in May, her bandmate Maria Alyokhina also went on hunger strike and ended up in hospital to protest being denied permission to attend her own parole hearing.