A District Court in Columbia sentenced Russian citizen Maria Butina to one and a half years in prison on charges of working as a foreign agent without registration. Thus, the judge granted the request of the prosecutor's office, which asked for Butina’s punishment in the form of a prison sentence of 18 months.
Maria Butina’s lawyers insisted that their client be sentenced to a term she had already spent in a US prison — 9.5 months.
Opening the meeting, Judge Tanya Chutkan stated that there are no precedents for determining the sentence in such cases.
"There is no similar case, and it is impossible to determine the range of possible sentences", - quotes the judge to RIA Novosti.
The judge added that the defense did not provide convincing arguments in favor of shortening the term, and agreed with the recommendation of the prosecutor’s office, which demanded imprisonment for Butina for 18 months.
According to prosecutor Eric Kennerson, despite the fact that the Russian woman deserves leniency for pleading guilty and working with the investigation, she was not just a student, but an “agent of Russia”.
“This is not a case of violation of the procedure for registration by a foreign agent. In this case, the defendant acted in the United States as an agent of a foreign power. She acted in the interests of Russia, ”the prosecutor said.
Russian lawyer Alfred Kerry, in turn, said that Maria Butina had no relation to intelligence and was not engaged in intelligence activities.
“Maria is not a spy, she has no relation to intelligence, she has never worked for the Russian authorities,” said Kerry.
In the course of her appeal to the court, Maria Butina herself stated that she had violated the procedure for registering as a foreign agent through ignorance, and, crying, asked the court for mercy.
“For my actions and ignorance, I apologize and condescension. I ruined my life ... My reputation has been destroyed both in my country and abroad, ”the Russian woman said.
- Maria butina
- globallookpress.com
- © Russian Embassy in the USA
"Russophobic mood"
Member of the international committee of the Federation Council, Oleg Morozov, in an interview with RT, noted that from the very beginning, the American justice system had intended to convict in the case of Butina.
“The accusatory bias and the attempt to deliberately create the illusion of illegal actions by a Russian citizen were obvious from the very beginning. All that we know from the press, its so-called confessions, only speaks of the unprecedented pressure on justice in the conditions of total Russophobic moods when it is necessary to add another portion of gasoline to the fire, ”the senator noted.
Recall that the 29-year-old Maria Butina was arrested in the United States on July 15 last year, on the eve of the summit of the presidents of Russia and the United States, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Helsinki. The Russian woman was accused of violating the law on foreign agents, trying to infiltrate American organizations and using personal connections to influence American policy in the interests of Moscow.
At the same time, during the consideration of the case, the American prosecutors themselves were forced to admit that the girl was not an agent of the Russian special services.
“Butina is not a spy in the traditional sense of the word, that is, she did not try to gain access to secret data for transmission to her country. She was not an intelligence officer. Nonetheless, its activities were carried out on behalf of a Russian official and in the interests of the Russian Federation, and this activity could damage the national security of the United States, ”said United States Attorney Eric Kanerson in an office memo quoted from the National Law Journal.
Robert Driscoll, one of Butina’s lawyers, said he did not consider the verdict politically motivated, adding that only a Russian citizen could be in such a situation.
“I wouldn't go that far. I think in our country as a whole is a good legal process. I do not think she is in prison solely because of politics. But anyone who thinks that anyone other than a Russian could find himself in such a situation is deceiving himself, ”the lawyer believes.
- US District Court for the District of Columbia, City of Washington.
- © dcd.uscourts.gov
Prison pressure
The prosecution alleges that Butina allegedly tried to create an unofficial channel of communication between the representatives of the Russian authorities and the US National Rifting Association, the largest association of supporters of free firearms in America. At the beginning of the process, the Russian woman did not admit her guilt either in work as a foreign agent without registration, or in collusion in favor of Russia.
However, in August 2018, Butinu was transferred from a prison in Washington to a detention center in Alexandria, Virginia, where she was held in so-called administrative isolation in solitary confinement until January 2019.
As the Russian Embassy in Washington noted, the conditions of Butina’s detention were “on the verge of torture”: she was sent to prison in shackles, she was starved for 12 hours and kept in a cell with the lights on.
In an exclusive interview with RT, Maria’s father, Valery Butin, described the conditions of his daughter’s being in prison as “natural torture”. After several months of such conditions of detention, at the end of 2018, Butina made a deal with the investigation and partially admitted her guilt.
Russian officials have repeatedly noted that the US authorities have forced Butin to incriminate himself under pressure, which included difficult conditions of imprisonment, as well as threats to sentence her to a long term of imprisonment.
“We understand that this decision was made by a Russian citizen under tough pressure from the American authorities,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova at the end of 2018.
In the face of such pressure from the American authorities, Butina had no other choice, said Alexander Domrin, HSE associate professor, in a conversation with RT.
“Maria Butina made a deal with the investigation in order to choose the least of the two evils: instead of 15 years of imprisonment, limit herself to one and a half years. Maria could only incriminate herself in order to get out of the prison cell. Now 1.5 years of imprisonment are ideal for her. Now, instead of a long stay in prison, she can be deported to Russia on the day of sentencing, ”the expert explained.
Investigation without Russia
Russian defense has repeatedly pointed out that most of the charges against Butina were lined up by the prosecutor's office on the basis of inaccurate information. So, prosecutors tried to convince the court that she allegedly offered sex in exchange for a position in the National Rifle Association or another lobby group.
This statement by the prosecutor's office was widely disseminated by the American and British media, which, in the course of covering the case, repeatedly called Boutin a “sex spy”.
However, it later turned out that all this information was untrue, which the prosecutors themselves admitted. Attorney Robert Driscoll stated that federal prosecutors "exaggerated and falsely" distorted Butina’s words in a "sexist attempt to slander" her.
Despite the fact that the girl was arrested in the midst of anti-Russian hysteria around Muller’s investigation of Trump’s relations with Russia, neither the special prosecutor himself nor the investigators from his team showed any interest in the Butina case. Then, experts noted that Robert Muller, having studied the materials, could have considered the arguments of prosecutors from Washington weak, so he did not connect the Butina case to his investigation.
Recall that the Muller investigation ended in March of this year. According to the final report, neither Donald Trump, nor his entourage conspired with the Russian authorities.
Forcing a deal
In a conversation with RT, American-American political scientist Mikhail Sinelnikov-Orishak noted that the US authorities had, from the very beginning, paid increased attention to the work of Maria Butina, since she was engaged in social activities.
“When Maria arrived in the United States, there was a close attention to all Russians. And do not forget that she conducted social activities - this is what she attracted the attention of American law enforcement agencies, ”the expert recalled.
According to him, the girl had to stipulate herself in order to quickly get out of prison.
“The American justice system is built in such a way that a person is presented with a lot of different accusations under which he can face a very impressive period. After that, the defendant is offered a deal: remove or mitigate the extra charges in exchange for pleading guilty on one of the points, which will give the prosecutor's office a reason to talk about winning the case. The accused understands that he risks a lot if he stands on his own, so he decides to accept the blame and get the minimum penalty, ”the expert concluded.
According to Alexander Domrin, Maria Butina is still “hostage to Russophobic sentiment” in the United States.
“She is accused only of trying to influence public opinion in the United States without registering as a foreign agent. There are no weighty reasons for keeping a Russian citizen in monstrous conditions. Now the American judicial system is trying to save a good face on a bad game, ”the expert believes.