JRL NEWSWATCH: [Re: Maria Butina] – Fred Weir via facebook

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia file photo, adapted from image at dc.uscourts.gov

(Fred Weir [Christian Science Monitor] – Facebook – September 10, 2018)

[Re: Maria Butina]

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OK, let’s leave the now-discredited sex thing aside, and just ponder this point. Suppose a foreigner — let’s say it’s me? — gets arrested in Russia and accused of some badly-defined pseudo-espionage activity, amid a flurry of lurid-cum-ludicrous public allegations. The Canadian government — my government — stands up for me, defends my rights, makes sure I get regular consular visits in prison. And then let’s suppose the Russian prosecutors have the bloody gall to say anything like this:
 
“They said that Russian government emissaries had visited her at least six times in jail, and that Sergey V. Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, had complained twice about her prosecution to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. “The actions of the Russian Federation and its officials toward the defendant have confirmed her relationship with, and value to, her own government,” they said.”
 
NYTIMES.COM
Prosecutors Admit They Wrongly Accused Russian of Offering Sex for Republican Access
But they said that the mistake did not mean that the woman, Maria Butina, should be released from pretrial custody in her espionage case.

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