REVIEW - Russian Citizen Butina Pleads Guilty To Conspiracy, Faces Up To 5 Years In US Prison

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th December, 2018) Russian national Maria Butina has pleaded guilty to conspiring against the United States and is facing a prison term of up to five years.

US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan on Thursday accepted Butina's guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to act as a foreign agent without proper registration, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the courthouse.

Butina faces up to five years in US prison and a $250,000 fine after pleading guilty. The judge set THE next hearing for February 12 to discuss a sentencing date.

Chutkan said Butina may be deported from the United States, but the decision will be made by relevant US agencies and not the court.

Butina at Thursday's hearing said "yes" when asked whether she knowingly engaged in a conspiracy against the United States. The defendant also admitted that she conspired with a number of individuals against the United States.

Butina said she understood that by admitting guilt, she was giving up certain trial rights, including the right to a hearing and the right to appeal her sentence in court.

The plea document signed by the Russian national said that Butina conspired with a "Russian government official," who had served as the Deputy Governor to the Russian Central Bank since at least 2015, and at least one other person.

"Butina was aware that Russian Official sometimes acted in consultation with the MFA [Ministry of Foreign Affairs], in addition to his superiors at the Russian Central Bank," the document alleged.

Butina sought to establish unofficial lines of communication with Americans who have power and influence in US politics, the document said. She then sought to use the unofficial lines of communication to benefit Russia by acting through the "Russian official," the document added.

However, the court document shows that in November 2016, in response to a note from Butina to the "Russian official" about how to set up a dialogue with then-president-elect Donald Trump's advisers, the "Russian official" told her that he did not believe the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs would "go for it."

Butina previously pleaded "not guilty" to charges of acting as a foreign agent and conspiracy to act as an agent of the Russian Federation in the United States.

According to the document, Butina agreed to plead guilty to count 1 in the indictment charging her with conspiracy to violate 18 US Code 951, which forbids acting as an agent of a foreign government without prior notification to the US Attorney General, and US Code 371 which makes it illegal to commit or to conspire to commit any offense against the United States or defraud the United States.

US authorities arrested Butina in mid-July. The Russian Foreign Ministry has said the charges against Butina were groundless and trumped-up and called her ongoing detention unacceptable.

An advisory defense attorney appointed to Butina by the US District Court for the District of Columbia earlier this month told reporters after the hearing that Butina made her decision to plead guilty voluntarily.

In court on Thursday, the judge revealed that AJ Kramer was appointed to the case in order to ensure that there was no conflict of interest in her case, after it appeared that her lawyer might want her to plead guilty so that he could avoid getting in trouble for violating the court's gag order.

The court issued the gag order to prevent attorneys from discussing the case in the media, thereby influencing its outcome. But Chutkan said prosecutors had evidence that Butina spoke with reporters from jail and may have communicated messages to the media from her lawyer, Robert Driscoll.

Such a situation could create conflicts of interest, Chutkan said, since Driscoll might encourage Butina to plead guilty so that he would avoid getting in any trouble for violating the court's gag order.

Chutkan said that she did not make a finding about whether Driscoll violated the order, allowing him to proceed with the case. When asked how he had determined that the plea was voluntary, Kramer said, "By talking to her and the parties."

"She knew what she was doing," Kramer said. "She was satisfied with her lawyers and made the decision voluntarily."

Kramer also stressed that his role in the case was limited to ensuring that Butina understood everything.

The courtroom was packed with journalists, as well as a small group of Russian diplomats. During the hearing Butina answered that she had signed the plea deal after meeting Kramer. The Russian national also said she had read the plea carefully and fully understands it.

She confirmed that her mind was clear, and that she was not pressured by US prosecutors to enter into the plea agreement.

Butina was wearing green prison uniform with a frayed, white long-sleeve shirt underneath that had holes near her elbows. She wore her hair in a long tight braid. She was also wearing eye glasses.

Butina answered the judge's questions confidently, showing no emotion and listening attentively to the proceedings. The court did not provide a translator, but she confirmed at the beginning of the hearing she could understand everything.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, said on Thursday Moscow will support any decision that Butina makes in order to be released from US jail.

"We provide all the necessary support to Maria Butina ... Everything that happens with her has nothing to do with jurisprudence, law, and investigation. This is exclusively political pressure, and blackmail, and a huge range of psychological experiments' tools is being applied against her," Zakharova said at a briefing. "We will back all the decisions that she makes in order to ensure her release, as we have been supporting her from the very first day."

Chairman of the Russian lower house's international affairs committee Leonid Slutsky on Thursday said the Butina case is an example of "political inquisition" with fabricated charges. He said Russia should still seek Butina's return from the United States.

The plea deal comes after Butina spent months in a US prison in Alexandria, Virginia, held mostly in isolation and denied phone contact and medical treatment. In November, Butina pleaded with the court to be moved into the prison's general population, so that she could interact with other people instead of spending all of her time in isolation. At the time of her request on November 27, she had been kept in solitary confinement for 67 straight days, according to court filings. The court denied her request.

Butina's father, Valery Butina, has called his daughter's treatment "torture," saying the harsh tactics were designed to force her to confess to crimes she did not commit.

Russian officials have repeatedly complained of Butina's treatment and did so again on Wednesday after diplomats visited her in prison. In a statement after the visit, the embassy reiterated Moscow's demand that Butina be treated "humanely" and called for her immediate release, noting that she has been held in isolation for 22 hours a day. Diplomats have previously said she suffers claustrophobia after spending so much time in solitary confinement.

Despite an impending plea deal, Russian officials remain firm in their denials of the allegations against Butina. On Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin revealed that Russian intelligence services knew nothing about Butina prior to her arrest. The Russian leader said that after the news first emerged of Butina's arrest, he asked all of the country's intelligence chiefs about her, but no one even knew who she was, except a small number of people in the Federation Council.

Even members of the US intelligence community have cast doubt on the allegations. Four former US intelligence officials who specialize in Russia matters told USA Today in an article published on Tuesday that Butina simply does not fit the profile of a Russian agent. They noted that spies generally conduct their activities in secret and try not to draw attention to themselves, while Butina gravitated toward publicity and led a very open life as a gun rights activist, posting prolifically on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Her alleged "influence" campaign, they suggested, was more likely an open effort to cultivate goodwill toward Russia.

The allegations against Butina come at a time of increasing anti-Russian sentiment in the United States, with American officials accusing Moscow of meddling in all aspects of their country's politics, including elections. Russia has repeatedly rejected such accusations, calling them absurd and unsubstantiated by any evidence.