Maria Butina’s father spoke about her conditions in an American prison

Valery Butin, father of Russian-born Maria Butina, arrested in the United States, said in an interview with the publication “News”About the conditions of detention of his daughter in an American prison.

Maria Butina in 2013 year.
Photos: Maria Butina’s Facebook page

According to the man, the family learned about the arrest of Russians from the news on the Internet and was shocked by this information.

“I learned about my daughter’s arrest on July 16, 2018 from news on the Internet. This event happened completely unexpectedly and shocked our family. We knew that in March 2018, Maria spoke before the US Senate Intelligence Committee and gave comprehensive answers there. Everyone, including her and her lawyer, were sure that Maria did not violate American laws in any way,” said Valery.

According to him, Maria in the USA devoted all her time exclusively to training in the magistracy of the American University in Washington, where she studied international relations and did not engage in illegal activities.

“In May 2018, she graduated with honors from this university and received a master's degree. And, accordingly, as an active, very contactable person and student, a future internationalist, a staunch supporter of good relations between Russia and the United States, it was interesting and necessary for her to communicate with people who represent politics in America. That's what she did. And they met her halfway, communicated, simply because it is interesting and easy to communicate with Maria on a human level, including on professional topics,” Butin said.

According to the father of a detained Russian woman, his daughter is in terrible conditions in an American prison: she is subjected to psychological pressure, humiliating searches, poorly fed and denied medical assistance.

“Maria was arrested on July 15. The arrest was accompanied by severe psychological pressure. FBI officers seized her computer equipment, phone, personal records, and belongings. She spent more than 15 hours in a pretrial detention cell in unbearable conditions with drug addicts and criminals, and then, by court decision, she was placed in a Washington prison. Our family was very worried about Masha. After all, she was able to call home for the first time only two weeks later. It was cold in the cell where she was placed, which aggravated her chronic arthritis. Unfortunately, she was even denied medical care at that time. The food was meager. At night, Masha was woken up every XNUMX minutes. After visits from lawyers, Russian embassy workers, and friends, she was subjected to humiliating strip searches. She was kept in such conditions until mid-August,” the man said.

After that, she was taken to Alexandria Prison (Virginia), where she was “at first kept 12 hours without food and sleep with the lights on”.

“Then they applied the so-called “administrative segregation” regime to her, which involves a 22-hour stay in solitary confinement with the possibility of leaving, including for telephone conversations, deep at night from 1:00 to 3:00 local time. When transferred to this prison, Maria was again confiscated of all her clothes and personal hygiene items that she managed to purchase in the prison store in Washington. In addition, and this is especially important, documents given to her by her lawyers were confiscated from her to work out the defense’s position in the upcoming court hearing. The daughter was denied communication with the Orthodox priest, thus violating freedom of religion,” the man emphasized.

According to him, Maria has not been allowed to walk for two months, to watch TV or read newspapers: “She is in an information vacuum, which also aggravates her psychological state.”

However, according to her father, despite the difficult conditions, Maria is in a cheerful and decisive state of mind and “ready to prove her innocence.” Parents have the opportunity to communicate with her by phone no more than twice a week, and this, according to Valery, is very expensive in terms of finances.

Recall, July 16 The US Department of Justice announced about the arrest of Russians Maria Butina: she is accused of trying to promote Russian interests in the United States without registering as a “foreign agent”. The founder of the public organization Right to Arms, Butina is considered a person close to the deputy chairman of the Central Bank, former senator Alexander Torshin - judging by the American indictment, it was he who oversaw her activities in the United States.

According to the FBIButina met with a Russian diplomat who is suspected of intelligence services by US intelligence agencies. was actively dating with prominent politicians and trying to create a shadow channel of communication between the Kremlin and the administration of Donald Trump.

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