MONROE, La. (AP) — A federal choose has ordered the switch of a Russian-born scientist and Harvard University researcher dealing with deportation from Louisiana, the place she was detained by immigration authorities, to Massachusetts, the place she has been charged with making an attempt to smuggle frog embryos.
Kseniia Petrova, 30, has been detained since February and filed a petition looking for her launch. She was charged Wednesday with one rely of smuggling items into the United States, shortly after one other federal choose had set a listening to date on her petition.
Petrova’s switch was ordered Thursday. Her lawyer, Gregory Romanovsky, had stated he anticipated that to occur within the subsequent few weeks.
If convicted, Petrova faces a sentence of as much as 20 years in jail and a fantastic of as much as $250,000.
Petrova had been vacationing in France, the place she stopped at a lab specializing in splicing superfine sections of frog embryos and obtained a package deal of samples for use for analysis.
As she handed by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection checkpoint in Boston Logan International Airport, Petrova was questioned in regards to the samples. Petrova instructed The Associated Press in an interview final month that she didn’t notice the objects wanted to be declared and was not making an attempt to sneak in something. After an interrogation, Petrova was instructed her visa was being canceled.
Romanovsky stated Customs and Border Protection officers had no authorized foundation for canceling Kseniia’s visa and detaining her.
The Department of Homeland Security stated in a press release on the social platform X that Petrova was detained after “lying to federal officers about carrying substances into the country.” They allege messages on her telephone “revealed she planned to smuggle the materials through customs without declaring them.”
Harvard had stated in a press release that the college “continues to monitor the situation.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/harvard-researcher-detained-by-ice-to-be-transferred-to-massachusetts_n_68278cc0e4b01633824ea231