Pussy Riot’s Masha Alekhina was arrested again after attending a protest criticising Russian President Vladimir Putin last weekend (January 23).

The activist and musician was reportedly detained for 48 hours and is now a suspect in a criminal case.

Alekhina was one of 3,000 people who were arrested at the protest, which was attended by thousands of people. She is being prosecuted for “violation of sanitary and epidemiological rules” and could face up to two years in prison if she is found guilty.

According to a tweet from Pussy Riot’s official Twitter account posted earlier today (January 29), Alekhina is still being detained. “She faces criminal charges and 2 years in jail for encouraging people to go to protests on social networks,” they wrote.

Pussy Riot's Masha Alekhina is still detained, she faces criminal charges and 2 years in jail for encouraging people to go to protests on social networks.

THIS IS A FACE OF PUTIN'S RUSSIA. they clearly have nothing else to do, but to put Pussy Riot in jail over and over again. pic.twitter.com/yJAWT7REbb

— ????? ???? (@pussyrrriot) January 29, 2021

“THIS IS A FACE OF PUTIN’S RUSSIA. They clearly have nothing else to do, but to put Pussy Riot in jail over and over again.”

The protest was held in response to Russia’s opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny being imprisoned on his return to the country. Navalny was poisoned by a Novichok nerve agent and was evacuated to Germany for treatment. More protests are expected to take place this weekend in support of the politician.

Alekhina was previously arrested in 2012 for “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” when Pussy Riot performed at Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. She was sentenced to two years in prison but was released after 16 months.

She was detained again in February 2014 in connection with an alleged hotel theft but was released without charge.

Last year, Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova wrote an op-ed piece on the state of democracy in Russia for the New York Times. In the article, the activist discussed the poisoning of Navalny, comparing it to the case of her ex-husband Pyotr Verzilov, who was poisoned in 2018.

“It was horrible to sit by his bed there in Berlin, as Aleksei’s wife, Yulia, is doing now,” she wrote. “And think I may never fully get back this person I call Petya, this person I love, this vital, funny, kind person.”