Jailed member of Pussy riot band missing since transfer to new jail

A jailed member of the Pussy Riot protest band is missing since she was moved to a new prison 10 days ago, reports from Russia has claimed

The husband of Nadezhda Tolokonnikova said that he had not received any news about her and her current location was being kept secret.

Her husband, Pyotr Verzilov, told the Buzzfeed website he believed the decision to move his wife came from the authorities in Moscow, as they want to cut her off from the outside world.

He said Tolokonnikova was still weak after two hunger strikes, and accused the authorities of trying to punish her because of her protests, the BBC reports.

She had been on hunger strike at a penal colony in Mordovia.

According to the report, she and another band member were jailed over a protest in a Moscow cathedral.

They were sentenced to two years' imprisonment after performing a crude protest song in February 2012. A third band member was released on appeal, the report said.

Tolokonnikova has complained of abuses by the prison staff in Mordovia.

Her husband said he last knew her precise whereabouts on 21 October, when guards put her on a train en route to a different prison.

She was seen on 24 October by a fellow passenger as the train arrived in the city of Chelyabinsk, in the Ural mountains, the report added.