WASHINGTON, November 28. /TASS/. The Russian embassy in the United States has sent a note of protest to the US Department of State after a US jail had again placed Russian activist Maria Butina under administrative segregation, the embassy said in a Facebook post.
"Recently the Russian citizen was put under administrative segregation. The prison administration refuses to tell the reasons behind the discriminatory treatment of Maria. A 22-hours a day isolation has already caused her health problems. Maria is now suffering from claustrophobia more often," the diplomats said.
The embassy said it "voiced a decisive protest against the toughening [of] the confinement regime of the Russian citizen under far-fetched politically motivated reasons." "We demand her earliest release," it added.
"She already spent 67 days in complete isolation, which exceeded the limits defined by the so-called Mandela Rules (standard minimum UN rules for the treatment of prisoners)," the embassy’s statement reads. "We consider the actions of the U.S. side as an attempt to impose pressure and break the will of our fellow citizen. This cannot but affect her preparation for the court session scheduled for December 19. A diplomatic note with our protest was sent to the U.S. Department of State."
Maria’s father, Valery Butin, told TASS after a telephone call with Maria on Tuesday that she was being housed in a separate cell 22 hours per day. He added that his daughter has no idea why the prison regime had been toughened. It is not clear how long Butina will be held in solitary confinement.
In September, Butina had been transferred to a minimum-security regime, which helped her sleep better. Earlier she was kept awake late at night because of the so-called administrative segregation that had been imposed on her. Butina has gotten the chance communicate with other prisoners.
Arrest
Maria Butina, who studied at American University in Washington, had been arrested on July 15 ahead of the Helsinki summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump. The Russian gun rights activist is facing charges of conspiracy for conducting activities in the interests of a foreign state. Investigators claim that she was engaged in these activities without registering as a foreign agent at the US Department of Justice.
During a July 21 phone conversation with US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov demanded a speedy release for Butina, having deemed the charges against her as fabricated.