On the heels of the closing ceremonies at the Sochi Olympics, members of the activist punk band Pussy Riot have been detained again.
Russian police detained hundreds of protesters during a demonstration against the sentences of seven men, who were recently convicted of rioting and violence against police in May of 2012 and given sentences of two and a half to four years. The men were protesting Putin's return to the presidency for his third term.
Pussy Riot's Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were both arrested in the protests. Alyokhina tweeted a photo of the pair at the protests, writing that they are in a police van with 30 people without air or light. They were detained twice, according to Reuters, first outside a courthouse and later near the Kremlin.
Activists and lawyers say the men's sentences were harsh in order to send a message that the kind of protests currently happening in Kiev, Ukraine, where dozens have been killed in the bloody protests, would not be tolerated in the state.
These two members of Pussy Riot were released late last year as a result of an amnesty bill, in what many saw to be as a move to garner favor from Western critics leading up to the Winter Olympics in Sochi. They have made it clear that they have no intention of quieting their criticism of the Kremlin and have said they will focus some of their attention on prison reform.