Prominent Russian opposition figure and rejected Moscow city election candidate Ilya Yashin has been detained for a record fifth time Wednesday after serving four consecutive jail terms. Yashin, 36, is among a slew of opposition candidates who were barred from running for Moscow’s legislature on Sept. 8 and handed short jail terms on protest-related charges. Critics have claimed Russian police are increasingly targeting opposition activists with back-to-back detentions on the same charges as a way to quash protests and dissent.

И снова на выходе из спецприемника я задержан сотрудниками полиции. Видимо, будет пятый подряд административный арест. pic.twitter.com/zSxxjaCUCf — Илья Яшин (@IlyaYashin) August 28, 2019

“This is the first time someone has been detained for the fifth consecutive time in Russia,” Alexei Glukhov, a lawyer for the Agora human rights group who specializes in defending protesters, told The Moscow Times. While the law doesn’t formally prohibit five arrests in a row, Glukhov said, Yashin’s case “is generally called abuse of the law.” Yashin filmed his own release and immediate re-detention. In the video, a police officer can be heard telling Yashin he was charged with calling on people to attend unauthorized protests on Aug. 3.

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