AFP/Reuters
Maria Butina, the alleged Russian agent accused of connecting the Kremlin to American gun-rights activists, is being held in solitary confinement, according to a new court filing. The filing, from her lawyers, says she was put in solitary on Nov. 21 and has been held there for 22 hours a day ever since. Jail staff told Butina’s attorney that they moved her there because she gave her lawyer’s phone number to another inmate, according to the filing. “It is the opinion of the undersigned that prolonged depravation of human contact and interaction is starting to have a profound psychological impact on Ms. Butina,” her lawyers wrote. “Unless the court intervenes, she will continue to be held in this manner and ultimately require the attention of mental health professionals.”
—Betsy Woodruff