Maria Butina, the woman charged over the summer with being a clandestine Russian agent, was unjustly transferred back to solitary confinement at a Virginia jail last Wednesday, her lawyers said Tuesday.
Her lawyers filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia asking for Butina to be transferred back to general population housing at the William G. Truesdale Adult Detention Center in Alexandria.
Butina’s attorneys Robert Driscoll and Alfred Carry said their client has spent a total of 67 consecutive days in solitary confinement since she was arrested in July, spending at least 22 hours a day in isolation.
“Staff reinstated her total isolation on Nov. 21, 2018, although no infraction nor occurrence justified the same,” they wrote, calling such a move “unjust and without cause.”
The attorneys added that Butina’s time in isolation is beginning to have “a profound psychological impact” on her. They warned that she will need to be treated by mental health professionals if the court does not intervene to move her out of solitary confinement.
In a joint court filing earlier this month, federal prosecutors and Butina’s lawyers disclosed the two sides were negotiating a “potential resolution” to her criminal case, meaning they were working toward a possible plea deal or some other conclusion to the case.
Butina is charged with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act by acting as an unregistered Russian agent within the United States.
Federal prosecutors have alleged Butina attempted to create a back channel of communications between Republicans and Russian officials by cultivating relationships with the National Rifle Association and other important figures in conservative politics, all while using her status as a student at American University as a cover.
Driscoll said she was just interested in networking with people who were influential in American politics.
