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Butina requests US court to dismiss hear earlier appeal

Butina's sentence ended on October 25

Maria Butina Ksenia Shubina/TASS

Maria Butina

© Ksenia Shubina/TASS

WASHINGTON, November 28. /TASS/. Russian citizen Maria Butina, who recently returned home after being released from a US prison, has requested a US court to dismiss her appeal against the 18-month prison sentence.

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Butina says being in US prison was 'torture'

"Appellant, Mariia Butina, requests that this Court enter a voluntary dismissal of the appeal in the above case" reads the motion for voluntary dismissal of appeal uploaded to the database of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. "After being informed of the circumstances of her case and of the consequences of dismissal ofher appeal, appellant has decided that it would be in her best interests to dismiss her appeal at this time."

Her lawyer also attached Butina’s declaration, in which she says she has been fully informed of the circumstances of her case and of the consequences of a dismissal.

"I, Mariia Butina, hereby state that I wish to voluntarily dismiss my appeal in the above case. In this regard, my attorney has fully informed me of the circumstances of my case and of the consequences of the dismissal of my appeal. Based upon this information, I have decided that it is in my best interest to dismiss the appeal at this time," the document reads.

"Wherefore, for the foregoing reasons, appellant respectfully requests that this motion be granted and that her appeal be dismissed," the lawyer said.

In mid-May, Butina filed an appeal against the verdict of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, which sentenced her to 18 months in prison.

Butina case

Butina, 30, was arrested in Washington on July 15, 2018, ahead of a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump in Helsinki. She was charged with conspiracy to act as a foreign agent in the United States. American intelligence services argued that the Russian citizen carried out this activity without being registered as an agent of a foreign state at the Department of Justice.

On December 13, 2018, Butina pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the US law governing foreign agents operating in the country and signed a plea bargain. On April 26, 2019, she was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Moscow stated that the charges had been trumped-up, and demanded her release.

Butina's sentence ended on October 25. She was released from prison and deported to Russia.

The Russian initially went to the United States for a college course and obtained a master’s degree in international relations from American University in Washington.

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