The Russian Embassy
in Washington says they will visit Maria Butina in jail this week
WASHINGTON, September
11. /TASS/. Russia’s Embassy in Washington will continue to protect the rights
of Russian woman Maria Butina, who is currently kept in custody in the United
States on charges of acting as an unregistered agent of the Russian government,
the embassy said in a statement following a court session on the case.
"We will visit
Maria in prison this week. We will keep advocating her lawful rights and demand
from the U.S. authorities to release her," the embassy said in a
statement.
The officials in the
embassy drew attention to the point of the US prosecution.
"The arguments
published by the U.S. prosecution (looks more like legal grounds for
Russophobia) deserve a careful analysis in order to fully understand this
theatre of absurd surrounding Maria. For instance, the prosecution carefully
counted the number of our diplomatic notes sent to the State department on
Maria’s case, as well as the number of consular visits to Maria in prison by
our Embassy’s officials. The numbers allowed the prosecution to claim that the
Russian citizen is "valuable" to her country," according to the
statement.
The diplomatic
mission stressed that Butina is not they visit in prisons in the US. The
diplomats warned that if the US prosecution continue to act this way, it will
submit another nota to the Department of State.
"We can say with
confidence that if the situation continues, the prosecution will lose count of
our official appeals to the US Department of State. "Evaluation" of
our official activities undertaken by the U.S. prosecution will be the subject
of a separate diplomatic note - it’s a promise," the diplomats said.
On Monday, a
high-level US court has refused to change pre-trial restrictions for Butina and
place her under house arrest. Tanya Chutkan, a judge of the US District Court
for the District of Columbia, turned down the appeal filed by Butia’s attorney
Robert Neil Driscoll, who demanded Butina be placed under house arrest with
electronic monitoring of her whereabouts. Apart from that, the court prohibited
both prosecutors and defense lawyers to release any information related to the
case, thus banning Driscoll to speak with the press.
Butina case
Maria Butina, 29,
entered the US in August 2016 on a student visa and took up studies at the
American University. She received the master’s degree in international
relations in May 2018.
She was arrested in
Washington DC on July 15. The Russian gun rights activist faces charges of
conspiracy for conducting activities in the interests of a foreign state.
According to the US Department of Justice, she is suspected of acting "as
an agent of Russia inside the United States by developing relationships with US
persons and infiltrating organizations having influence in American politics,
for the purpose of advancing the interests of the Russian Federation."
In a telephone
conversation with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on July 21, Russian Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov demanded Butina’s early release from custody stressing
that charges against her were trumped-up. For her part, Russian Foreign
Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow would continue work to protect
Butina’s rights and legitimate interests.
Source: ITAR-TASS
11-09-2018
