Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova stated that Russian citizen Maria Butina, who was arrested and held in solitary confinement in the United States, was treated by the US authorities like in the days of the medieval inquisition. "It's not about justice, it's not justice. It's just inquisition," Zakharova noted in an interview to CNN, TASS reports.
"Because she is intimidated, she was tortured and was not treated like a human being, not like a woman. I think she was treated and is still treated probably as a terrorist or something like that. From the very first day [of arrest] we called her a political prisoner," Zakharova said.
Moscow closely followed the situation with Butina; the way American authorities treated her was unacceptable, according to the MFA spokesperson. "Maria Butina is a representative of a civil society, she was not doing anything wrong. The things American authorities allow themselves to do to Butina would be hard to tolerate even for people with special training," underlined Maria Zakharova.
"We repeat our demand to Washington to observe her legal rights and release her from prison as quickly as possible. The Russian Foreign Ministry, the Russian Embassy in Washington and our diplomats support Butina in all possible ways providing moral and psychological help in the current difficult situation," Zakharova said.
Russkiy Mir reported earlier, the Russian woman to have been detained in Washington on suspicion of illegal activities in the interests of a Russian official who was on the sanction list. Butina had pleaded non-guilty on the accusation.
Moscow called the accusations preposterous. Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that Butina’s arrest was needed to negate the positive effect that the Russian and American presidents had achieved at the summit in Helsinki.
Russkiy Mir
