Madonna Will Introduce Members Of Pussy Riot At Amnesty International Concert In Brooklyn, New York

Madonna will introduce two members of the Pussy Riot art collective, Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, at Amnesty International’s "Bringing Human Rights Home" at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Feb. 5. The news of the concert was announced by Amnesty International on Wednesday.

Alyokhina, nicknamed “Masha” and Tolokonnikova, nicknamed “Nadya Tolokno,” made headlines in 2012 when Russian authorities arrested them for making an anti-Vladmir Putin music video in a Russian Orthodox Church cathedral in Moscow. Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were supposed to be held until April 2014, but were released in December 2013.

“I am honored to introduce my fellow freedom fighters Masha and Nadya from Pussy Riot. I have admired their courage and have long supported their commitment and the sacrifices they have made in the name of freedom of expression and human rights,” Madonna wrote in a press release issued on her website.

The two Russian women, who were recently accused of Satanism by a New York priest, will be the guests of honor at the concert, which will also feature performances by Lauryn Hill, Imagine Dragons, Cold War Kids, The Flaming Lips and many others. However, the two members will not perform in Brooklyn, according to reports, and instead only say a few words at the event.

In her statement, Madonna also said that she is a "longstanding defender of the Pussy Riot art collective’s right to speak out in defiance of restriction in their homeland, is part of a star-studded tradition of prominent artists using the power of music to articulate their support for human rights on behalf of Amnesty International."

Tolokonnikova reportedly wrote on her Facebook account: “[Amnesty] did a lot to support us while we were in prison and their work is very important for activists and inmates all over the world.”

The two members, during their visit to the U.S., also reportedly plan to visit women incarcerated in American prisons.

“We are planning to visit several US prisons in the state of New York, including a maximum-security prison for female inmates,” Tolokonnikova reportedly explained.