The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Friday called for the immediate release of Russian journalist Veronika Orlova, who was sentenced to 13 days of administrative detention after filming the aftermath of an anti-Putin protest in Moscow earlier this week.

Orlova, a reporter for independent outlet SOTAvision, was arrested Tuesday near Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge, where she had been filming emergency crews responding to activist Grigory Saksonov—detained after jumping into the river with a sign reading “Putin–Hitler.” Authorities accused Orlova of “disobeying a police officer,” a charge she denies. Her outlet and lawyer emphasized she had no connection to the protest.

“Detaining a journalist for simply filming in a public space is a blatant violation of press freedom,” said Anna Brakha, CPJ’s senior researcher for Europe and Central Asia.

Orlova’s detention is the latest in a growing pattern of state repression. Two of her colleagues, Artyom Krieger and Antonina Favorskaya, are currently serving 5.5-year prison sentences on extremism charges related to their journalistic work.

The incident comes amid an intensifying campaign by Russian authorities to silence dissenting voices, especially those critical of the military or its leadership. Just two weeks earlier, Major General Ivan Popov, a former commander who criticized the Russian army’s operations in Ukraine, was sentenced to five years in prison on larceny and forgery charges he claims are politically motivated. In his final statement to the court, Popov denied wrongdoing and reaffirmed his loyalty to the people, not the government.

Similarly, 19-year-old activist Daria Kozyreva was sentenced last month to nearly three years in prison for quoting Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko in protest of the war. Amnesty International condemned the ruling as “a chilling reminder of how far Russian authorities will go to silence peaceful opposition.”

According to the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation, over 2,000 political prisoners remain at grave risk in Russia, with many facing life-threatening conditions due to critical health issues. CPJ reiterated its call for Orlova’s immediate release and urged the international community to hold the Russian government accountable for its systematic targeting of journalists and activists.