A judge has ordered a 22-year-old graduate of Moscow’s Higher School of Economics (HSE) into pre-trial detention on charges of state treason, following two months of being cycled in and out of detention, according to court records referenced by the exiled news organization Mediazona on Tuesday.

Leonid Katz has experienced a total of four consecutive administrative detentions, often referred to as “carousel arrests,” since October 1, as reported by the BBC Russian service. Each time he was released, he was promptly re-arrested, frequently for minor infractions such as “failure to comply with police orders” or “using foul language.”

As reported by Mediazona, on the day Katz was set to be released after serving a 15-day sentence for using obscene language, Moscow’s Meshchansky District Court received a request from investigators to keep him in custody on treason allegations.

Katz’s attorney has not offered any comments regarding the case.

The specifics of the charges against Katz remain unclear. In Russia, cases involving treason and other national security matters are typically conducted in secrecy.

In February 2021, when he was still a minor, Katz was arrested for taking part in protests supporting the opposition leader Alexei Navalny, according to BBC Russia.

HSE is recognized as one of Russia’s leading universities and has long been viewed as a stronghold of liberal values amidst the government’s expanding efforts to advocate conservative ideologies and “traditional values.”

Despite being one of Russia’s top institutions for social sciences, HSE’s administration has increasingly yielded to political pressures from the government, leading to a crackdown on dissent among students and faculty, particularly since the onset of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.