MOSCOW. Dec 7 (Interfax) - Several lawyers will now be representing Russian citizen Maria Butina implicated in acting as a foreign agent in the United States, Russian human rights activist Ivan Melnikov told Interfax on Thursday.
"I have just contacted Robert Driscoll, who told me he is still representing Maria. A new lawyer has been appointed to assist in this activity and to address certain aspects of the case," Melnikov said.
The law enables a U.S. court to appoint a public defender in addition to the designated lawyer, he said.
Melnikov denied that Butina might make a deal with justice. "I have no information that Maria has made any deal or wishes to do so," he said.
The U.S. Department of Justice charged Butina, 29, with conspiring to operate as a foreign agent in the United States without duly notifying the Attorney General's Office.
Butina was accused of engaging in a campaign advancing the interests of Russia in the United States at least since 2015, and acting as an agent for a Russian official through personal connections with an American having influence on the U.S. policy.
She pleaded not guilty.
According to Melnikov, law enforcers have seized the entire correspondence and electronic media of Butina (about 12 terabytes of information) for over eight years.
Butina was put in a solitary cell after her detention, but the Russian embassy in the United States said on September 22 that the Alexandria prison administration authorized her transfer to the general population. The new status made it possible to have a good night's rest, go in for sports, and communicate with other inmates.
Butina contacted her father on November 27 and said that she was back to a solidarity cell since the previous week and was allowed only two hours of yard time, between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m.
In Melnikov's words, Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova has been requested to intervene and stop the violations of human rights of the Russian citizen.
In addition, Butina's father Valery Butin asked the Russian president for personally controlling the situation of his daughter.