Butina Starts Fundraiser To Pay Medical Bills Of Another Russian Held In US Prison

Butina Starts Fundraiser to Pay Medical Bills of Another Russian Held in US Prison

Maria Butina, a pro-gun activist who served time in the United States for not registering as a foreign agent, said Friday she wanted to help pay for urgent medical care for another imprisoned Russian

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2019) Maria Butina, a pro-gun activist who served time in the United States for not registering as a foreign agent, said Friday she wanted to help pay for urgent medical care for another imprisoned Russian.

Konstantin Yaroshenko was sentenced to 20 years in a US prison in 2011 on drug-trafficking charges he denied. The Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman demanded this week that the US allow him to return to his home country to receive medical treatment.

"He has been offered to pay for his own treatment [in the US prison], which is impossible. That's why me and my family decided to find some money to help out Konstantin, despite the huge debt we owe to our lawyers," Butina said at a sitting of the Russian parliament's foreign affairs committee.

She appealed to the legislature for help in fundraising. The 30-year-old has been offered a job in the committee by its chief, Konstantin Slutsky, after Russian ombudswoman Tatyana Moskalkova invited her to join a working group in her office that defends Russians imprisoned abroad.

Butina was arrested in the US in July 2018 and charged with conspiring to act as an unregistered foreign agent. She was repeatedly placed into solitary confinement and eventually pleaded guilty for fear of getting a long sentence. She was freed after 18 months in prison and deported last month.