MOSCOW, May 28 (RAPSI) – Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina, who is serving a two-year prison sentence, is continuing her hunger strike to protest the Berezniki City Court’s refusal to allow her to attend her parole appeals hearing, attorney Irina Khrunova told RAPSI on Tuesday.

“She was examined by a prison doctor this morning,” Khrunova said. “They took her blood pressure and checked her general condition. I cannot say whether or not she is still in the medical unit or hospitalized. She is still on hunger strike.”

On Monday, a Federal Penitentiary Service representative told RIA Novosti that Alyokhina’s condition is stable and she is being examined several times a day.

Although food is offered regularly, she refuses to eat in the canteen with the other inmates, the source said.

In February 2012, five young women wearing brightly colored balaclavas staged a "punk-style" prayer in the Christ the Savior Cathedral in central Moscow. An edited video of their performance was posted on the Internet and caused a public outcry. In August 2012, the Khamovnichesky District Court in Moscow sentenced Alyokhina and two other Pussy Riot members - Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich - to two years in a prison settlement for hooliganism.

In October 2012, the Moscow City Court changed Samutsevich's verdict to a suspended sentence and released her immediately, based on her new attorneys' argument that she was seized by security guards prior to reaching the altar.

Alyokhina's and Tolokonnikova's sentences were upheld. In April, the Zubova Polyana District Court in Mordovia rejected Tolokonnikova's request for parole.