OTTAWA—It is like an old spy movie viewed through the looking glass, with a young Russian couple believing their ties to Canada are being used to tarnish their reputations in their fight for free expression.

Pyotr Verzilov, 25, is married to Nadezdha Tolokonnikova, 22, the best-known face of Pussy Riot, a Russian punk group that saw three of its members sentenced on Friday to two years in prison for a February stunt that involved storming a Moscow cathedral and shouting a prayer to the Virgin Mary to deliver their country from Vladimir Putin.

They both have a connection to Canada.

Verzilov spent five years living with relatives in Toronto, where he attended Swansea Public School and then Humberside Collegiate, both in the west end, from 1999 to 2004, he told the Star in an interview Friday.

A photo from the 2001-2002 Humberside Collegiate yearbook shows he went by the name Peter Verzilov while there.

He said this allowed him to obtain a Canadian passport and dual Russian-Canadian citizenship. For reasons he did not discuss in detail, he returned to Russia, where he met his wife as a philosophy student at Moscow State University.

They have a 4-year-old daughter named Gera who tells everyone that Putin has locked her mother in a cage and draws diagrams showing how they can help break her free using bulldozers and buses, according to German magazine Der Spiegel.

Verzilov said the couple has visited Toronto several times, most recently for a month in May of last year. Verzilov confirmed that Tolokonnikova has permanent resident status in Canada, but said the couple never planned to live here.

“In Russia these things are happening, these verdicts. We must stay here and try to do something,” Verzilov told the Star, who argued their ties to Canada have been played up by anti-Pussy Riot forces in order to undermine their message.

“It’s government propaganda,” Verzilov said. “They want to say that they are all foreign agents.”

Earlier this month, the Washington Post reported that Verzilov’s passport was shown on TV as evidence that he wants to tear the country apart.

And a documentary about Pussy Riot that aired on Russian state television in April — called “Provocateurs” and directed by high-profile pro-Kremlin journalist Arkady Mamontov — includes a shot of a Moscow police detective showing the filmmaker Ontario health insurance and permanent resident cards belonging to Tolokonnikova.

The detective claims they show a close relationship with a foreign government and says the women thought the documents would make things easier for them in the aftermath of their protests.

The documentary also features a jailhouse interview with Tolokonnikova conducted by Dmitry Toropov — the only journalist allowed to interview Pussy Riot in prison — in which Tolokonnikova denies having permanent resident status in Canada and says she is not planning to leave Russia yet.

Judge Marina Syrova, who convicted Tolokonnikova and fellow Pussy Riot members Maria Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred on Friday, noted in her verdict that Tolokonnikova is a Canadian permanent resident and had asked for a leave of absence from her university.

A previous judge, Elena Ivanova, had mentioned Tolokonnikova’s permanent resident status as part of the reason for extending their detention in April.

The Canadian government is not required to provide consular services to its permanent residents, which is a right reserved for citizens.

Ian Trites, a spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Department, said the Canadian government is aware of reports indicating a permanent resident of Canada has been arrested in Russia but due to privacy reasons cannot release any further details.

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“The promotion of Canadian values, including freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law, features prominently in our ongoing dialogue with the Russian authorities,” Rick Roth, press secretary to Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird wrote in an email on Friday in reaction to the verdict.

It is not known exactly how Tolokonnikova received permanent resident status — she could have applied through her husband while still in Russia and received her card quickly after moving to Ontario — someone must be physically present in Canada to get a card and live here for at least two out of five years to maintain the status.

To be eligible for Ontario health insurance, someone must reside in Ontario for three months after becoming a permanent resident.

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