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Members of the girl-band *** Riot were attacked by Russia's voluntary police force, the Cossacks,
while they were filming a new music video on Wednesday.
The Cossacks are being used to enforce security around Sochi during the Olympic Games.
The guards used whips, tear gas and violence against the protesters. Speaking a local hospital
on Wednesday night, band member Maria Alyokhina describes her injuries and those of fellow
bandmate Nadezhda Tolokonnikova.
I have marks, I have a bruise here, my fingernails are broken and in my eyes and nose I have
tear gas which they sprayed into our eyes. And my friend, She has whip marks on her chest
and back.
Outside the Sochi hospital, Tolokonnikova's husband Peter Verzilov told reporters what
he thinks should happen next.
Well obviously we want a detailed criminal investigation, which we hope will lead to
court cases that will hopefully have a just ending. That does not happen in Russia that often.
A friend of the group called Alexei, who was with the band members when they were attacked,
describes going to the police for help after he says he was hit over the head by one of the Cossacks.
I followed them and came up to the police, the police ignored all of my demands to arrest
this man. They were friendly towards each other and tried to demonstrate that these
people are a special case who can do anything.
*** Riot band members had been serving two-year jail terms on charges of hooliganism and religious
hatred after they performed a profanity-laced protest song against President Putin in Moscow's
main cathedral in February 2012.
They were released from prison last December in an amnesty ahead of the Sochi games. But
the group continues to campaign against the Russian government and accuses it of human
rights violations.