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Maria Butina, head of a pro-gun organization in Russia, addresses a crowd at a rally in Moscow in 2013. (AP)
A federal judge on Monday rejected a defense request to release a Russian woman awaiting trial Charges against her were foreign agents attempting to infiltrate the National Rifle Association and other US conservative groups, claiming she remained in danger.
By ordering 29-year-old Maria Butina to remain in detention, District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan also imposed an order after accusing prosecutors of having alleged that Butina had exchanged sex. jurors.
Butina pleaded not guilty after being charged on 17 July with conspiracy to act and not to register as an agent of a foreign government. Her defense stated that she was merely networking to develop relationships with the Americans. She is being held in jail in Alexandria, Virginia.
"I can not imagine any scenario where it is not possible. . . for Ms. Butina to leave the prison, be put in a car with diplomatic tags and taken to an airport. There is a very real risk of theft, "said Chutkan. "Risk of absconding – this is the main concern of this court when considering this application for bail".
On Friday night, prosecutors admitted to misunderstanding the text messages they had used to joke, Butina said.
"The government's understanding of this particular text conversation was a mistake," writes the document.
The exchange had taken place as part of prosecutors' argument that Butina had close ties to Russia and little contact with the United States, prosecutors told the court.
Butina had asked to be released because she had relations with the United States in her long-standing relationship with Paul Erickson, a Republican consultant from South Dakota she met in Moscow in 2013 and with whom she had connections lover.
Butina spent two years at the American University in the International School's Global Security Program and earned a Master's degree in May.
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