Oleg Navalny, Alexei Navalny’s brother, was placed on house arrest for violation of sanitary-hygiene norms in Moscow on Friday, the court told TASS.

“The court granted the investigative bodies’ motion to choose house arrest as a pre-trial measure against Oleg Navalny until March 23,” the court announced.

Earlier, a Moscow court had ruled to place coordinator of Navalny’s headquarters Oleg Stepanov on house arrest. The court is also considering the motion to place female activists Lyubov Sobol and Maria Alyokhina and head of the Union of Doctors Anastasia Vasileva on house arrest.

Yesterday police apprehended Oleg Navalny, Maria Alyokhina, Anastasia Vasileva, Oleg Stepanov and Lyubov Sobol within the scope of a case of violation of sanitary norms while holding a prohibited rally.

As reported spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs Irina Volk, the participants and organizers of the prohibited demonstrations held on Jan. 23 now pose a risk of the spread of the novel coronavirus. The operational headquarters for the fight against COVID-19 in Moscow reported that 19 people who participated in the demonstrations were infected with COVID-19 and need to stay at home now.

Russian investigators instituted over 20 criminal cases after the rallies.