The activist could spend up to two years in jail for her role in countrywide demonstrations in support of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Last weekend (January 23), Pussy Riot member and activist Masha Alekhina was arrested alongside fellow activists Lusya Stein and Victoria Narakhsa, during Russia’s massive, nationwide protests criticising President Vladimir Putin. Now, Alekhina faces up to two years in jail for “violation of sanitary and epidemiological rules”. “Pussy Riot’s Masha Alekhina is still detained,” the punk collective writes on Twitter. “She faces criminal charges and two 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.” (…) According to the online Russian newspaper Meduza, security forces also searched Alekhina’s home, along with that of Navalny’s wife, Yulia (who was also detained at the protests) and several of his allies. Mediazona – the independent media company founded by Pussy Riot and Russian journalists in 2014 – reports that they are now being kept under house arrest, ahead of Sunday’s planned protests. Pussy Riot has also shared news that Mediazona editor-in-chief Sergey Smirnov has been arrested while out walking with his young son, accused of “inciting”.
via dazeddigital: Pussy Riot’s Masha Alekhina faces jail time following anti-Putin protest