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MARIA BUTINA'S CASE

Defense hopes for detained Russian activist Butina’s release in six weeks

The lawyer expects Butina to be sent back to Russia immediately after the verdict

Maria Butina AP Photo/Pavel Ptitsin

Maria Butina

© AP Photo/Pavel Ptitsin

WASHINGTON, February 8. /TASS/. Russian citizen Maria Butina, detained in US on suspicion of acting as an unregistered foreign agent, may return to Russia in the coming six weeks or so, her attorney Robert Driscoll told TASS.

On December 13, a court in District Columbia heard Butina plead guilty to one of the charges brought against her - violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Earlier she signed a plea bargain with the attorney’s office.

When asked about when the sentencing may take place, Driscoll replied: "We don’t know yet. We will set the date when we have our status conference, but I’m hoping that it’ll take place… within a month or six weeks."

When asked whether he expects Butina to be sent back to Russia immediately after the verdict, the attorney replied: "That’s what I’m going to request and I think the law supports this, but, obviously, it’s up to the judge, it’s not guaranteed."

"I think that she [judge Tanya Chutkan] is working, fulfilling all her obligations," he said. "I think it’s a good possibility that we can get what we were asking for."

At the same time, the attorney admitted that certain disagreements regarding the outcome of the case still remain between the defense and the prosecution.

"There is a slight disagreement but they [prosecutors] haven’t asked for any more time," he said. "There is a disagreement on how to calculate the guidelines, but they had not taken the position like she should spend three years in jail or anything like that," he added.

Maria Butina, 30, was arrested in Washington DC on July 15, right before the Helsinki meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump. The US Department of Justice said that she was 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.".

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