In quick succession, Russian authorities have detained and jailed several members of the protest group Pussy Riot, just days after they had completed jail terms on similar charges.
Anna Kuzminykh was the latest to be arrested on July 9 at the entrance of her home for unspecified reasons and reportedly needed an ambulance after falling ill, according to the independent news website Mediazona.
Kuzminykh had been released on July 7 after she and three other members of Pussy Riot -- Lyusya Shtein, Maria Alyokhina, and Aleksandr Sofeyev -- were put behind bars as part of a crackdown on the protest group.
Kuzminykh, Shtein, and Alyokhina were found guilty of disobeying police orders, while Sofeyev was sentenced for minor hooliganism.
A Moscow court on July 8 sentenced Alyokhina again to 15 days in jail on a charge of disobeying police. Alyokhina was detained the previous day outside a detention center where she had been held for 15 days.
Sofeyev was sentenced to 12 days in jail on July 8 for alleged petty hooliganism. He was similarly detained outside of a Moscow detention center a day earlier after serving 15 days for the same offense.
Earlier, a Moscow court on July 3 sentenced Veronika Nikulshina to 15 days in jail for disobeying police orders, just two days after she was released on a similar charge.
Pussy Riot came to prominence in 2012 when five members of the group burst into Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral to protest ties between the Russian Orthodox Church and then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Their protest -- the performance of a song they described as a "punk prayer" -- took place as Putin was campaigning for his return to the presidency.
Alyokhina and another member, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, were convicted on a charge of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" and sentenced to two years in a penal colony. The duo were close to completing their sentences when they were granted amnesty in December 2013.
In another stunt, Pussy Riot members interrupted the 2018 World Cup final in Moscow between France and Croatia by running onto the field wearing fake police uniforms.
The group says such protest acts are aimed at challenging government policies and raising awareness of human rights issues.
