Olga Shalina, an activist with an ultraleftist unregistered political party, has cut her veins on her left hand to protest conditions in Russian prisons at an event in Moscow.

Shalina is a member of The Other Russia party, formed by firebrand Russian writer and politician Eduard Limonov in 2010 after his National Bolshevik Party was outlawed.

Maria Alyokhina of the Pussy Riot protest group said that Shalina's protest took place on October 25 at the Interpolitekh exhibition of police and military equipment in the Russian capital.

Shalina also spread leaflets criticizing the Russian police and penitentiaries for violating inmates' rights.

Police detained Shalina and transported her to a hospital.

The violation of inmates' rights in the Russian penal system is an issue that has been in the spotlight since July when a video showing at least 17 guards beating an inmate in the Yaroslavl region was released on the Internet by the Novaya Gazeta newspaper.

Based on reporting by Meduza and Mediazona