VIDEO -- Famous American journalist unexpectedly interceded for Maria Butina

VIDEO -- 67 Days in Solitary Confinement and Close to Breaking: Maria Butina Offered a Deal By US Authorities

Two Stories from the Propaganda War

Two Stories from the Propaganda War

The media has been silent about Maria Butina because the case against her is falling apart.

 October 26, 2018

By

 Philip Giraldi

Authored by Philip Giraldi via The Strategic Culture Foundation:

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Two recent stories about Russians have demonstrated how the news is selected and manipulated in the United States. The first is about Maria Butina, who apparently sought to overthrow American democracy, such as it is, by obtaining a life membership in the National Rifle Association. Maria, a graduate student at American University, is now in detention in a federal prison, having been charged with collusion and failure to register as an agent of the Russian Federation. She has been in prison since July, for most of the time in solitary confinement, and has not been granted bail because, as a Russian citizen, she is considered to be a “flight risk.”

Maria, who has pleaded not guilty to all charges, is now seeking donations to help pay for her legal defense as the Russian government renews demands that she be released from jail or be tried on whatever charges the Justice Department can come up with, but her release is unlikely as she is really a political prisoner.

The media has been silent about Maria Butina because the case against her is falling apart. In early September prosecutors admitted that they had misunderstood text messages used to support claims that she had offered to trade sex for access to information. Demands that she consequently be released from prison were, however, rejected. Her lawyer observed that “The impact of this inflammatory allegation, which painted Ms. Butina as some type of Kremlin-trained seductress, or spy-novel honeypot character, trading sex for access and power, cannot be overstated.”

In an attempt to make the Butina embarrassment disappear from the news, the Justice Department has proposed an unprecedented gag order to prevent her attorney from appearing in the media in a way that could prejudice a jury should her case eventually come to trial. Currently there is no court date and Maria remains in jail indefinitely, but the press could care less – she is just one more Russiagate casualty in an ongoing saga that has long since passed her by.

'Inhumane Regime' Still in Effect: Moscow Slams Butina's Jail Conditions

© AP Photo /

US

02:49 30.08.2018(updated 03:06 30.08.2018)Get short URL

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MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Inhumane restrictions continue to be enforced against Maria Butina, a young Russian woman in custody in a DC jail on charges of being a foreign agent, the Russian Embassy said in a statement.

"An inhumane regime of administrative segregation is still in effect against Maria, who is forced to stay awake from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. every night. It is the only time she is allowed to leave her cell. She is still denied access to fresh air," it read.

The update on Maria’s living conditions was made after diplomats visited her in prison on Wednesday. She has been in detention since  July 15 arrest. Russia has called claims against her "clearly groundless."

© AP PHOTO / DANA VERKOUTEREN

Stranger Tries to File Court Motion in Butina Case on Her Behalf - Lawyer

The Embassy referred to her isolation as a "way to put pressure on Maria." It warned that this kind of treatment would almost certainly take a toll on her psychological well-being, adding the 29-year-old was in need of "constant support."

The diplomatic mission cautioned its citizens that no one was safe from being targeted and persecuted by US authorities while staying abroad, and called for a public outcry against such "arbitrariness."

Last week, a court document revealed that Butina's defense attorney had requested her release ahead of her trial. Defense attorney Robert Driscoll argued that the government's claims about Butina being a flight risk were exaggerated and not based on facts or evidence.

READ MORE: Russian Embassy Accuses US Authorities of Unwarranted Strip Searches of Butina

© AP PHOTO / DANA VERKOUTEREN

Russian Human Rights Commissioner on Butina's Detention: All Signs of Cruel, Inhuman Treatement

Driscoll also noted the lack of evidence to prove that Butina was indeed connected to Russian intelligence services, as US prosecutors have alleged.

Butina's lawyer stressed that his client came to the United States as a student and had no professional relationship with high-profile Russian lawmaker, as prosecutors claim. Driscoll also argued in the filing that US authorities have tried to stretch the law by claiming that if a foreign student makes contacts with people in her native country, she must, therefore, be an "agent" for this country.

Butina firmly denies all of the accusations, which may land her in jail for up to 15 years. Russia has repeatedly slammed the charges as "clearly baseless."

READ MORE: American University May Revoke Russian National Maria Butina's Diploma

Persecution of Maria Butina takes a nasty turn

Persecution of Maria Butina takes a nasty turn

The arrest of Maria Butina, a pro-Second Amendment Russian visitor, has been topped by allegations of cruel treatment at American hands.

 August 21, 2018

By

 Seraphim Hanisch

2,619 Views

The Russian News Agency TASS reported Monday, August 20, 2018, that Russian citizen Maria Butina has been suffering “inhumane and degrading” treatment. Russian Ombudsperson Tatiana Moskalkova gave the following statement on her website:

 “I would like to express my utmost concern at the actions of US prison authorities during the transfer of Russian citizen Maria Butina from Washington to Alexandria (Virginia State) prison…  There are clear signs of cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment, punishment by the US government and violation of the rules of international law.”

RT also reported on this matter on Sunday, 19 August, noting that the 29-year-old Russian gun rights activist was moved to a different prison without warning. The Russian embassy claimed that her new conditions are bordering on torture. The report of her incarceration conditions is frustrating and saddening to read:

The Russian embassy in the US, which has been closely following Butina’s case, says she was transferred from her Washington jail handcuffed, without warning or explanation for the move. Before the move, Butina was subjected to a “degrading full strip search,” and all her things were taken away, including books, shoes, towels and other hygiene items.

Butina was moved to a prison in Alexandria, Virginia, and spent the next 12 hours in a quarantine cell with no food and all the lights on, unable to sleep. She will now be kept in “administrative segregation,” which means locked up in solitary confinement – conditions bordering on torture, the embassy says.

Embassy staff paid an emergency visit to Butina in her new place of detention. They also intend to send another note of official protest to the US Department of State, in addition to the one recently filed over the inhumane treatment of the Russian citizen.

“We have more and more questions to the U.S. justice system,” the embassy says in a Facebook post. “Should allegations pressed against Maria before the actual trial condemn her to practices that are slightly below torture? It seems that the reason behind the US decision to withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council was to give the US authorities green light for such provocations.”

The majority of US government agencies have been pursuing an increasingly aggressive stance towards the Russian Federation without any hard evidence for cause for over two years now. In the last week a painful sanctions package was approved which goes into effect on Wednesday this week.

As we have reported at the Duran, this action appears to be serving a dual purpose – to isolate and hurt Russia in her own ability to remain sovereign and not part of the globalist agenda, and at the same time to create a situation through which the removal of US President Donald Trump may be initiated after the midterms in November.

Added to this is the recent arrest and imprisonment of 29-year-old Maria Butina, a Russian political activist who supports a Russian pro-gun group called “Right to Bear Arms.” In this regard, she was a known presence at gun-rights lobbies in the US, where she was living and studying at the American University in Washington, DC.

Her involvement in US politics, notably the National Rifle Association and her alliances with Republicans and conservatives in the US made her a target for accusation as a Russian agent, presumably to further bolster the idea that Trump and by extension, members of the Republican Party at large were in alliance with the Russians in the like manner as the “election collusion” narrative that has been the dead weight on the Trump presidency since before day one.

Butina is being held on conspiracy charges that would be laughable to even think of any other time.

Like Russiagate, these charges are unsubstantiated.

Like Russiagate, these charges are in reaction to the fact that Mr. Trump won the presidency and not Hillary Clinton.

And, like Russiagate, these charges are a major attempt to cut Russia off from the world, simply because Russia will not play the globalist game. Again here, one need only refer to Vladimir Putin’s speech in Valdai in 2013 to see the battle lines that are drawn.

One can only wonder at the insanity of the American government apparatus and the power that seems to be operating through it. This is not the way the United States used to be.