(12 Jun 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
++SOUNDBITES SEPARATED BY WHITE FLASHES++
++VIDEO STARTS AND ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Boston – 12 June 2025
1. SOUNDBITE (English) William Fick, lawyer representing Petrova:
"After spending nearly four months in detention in Vermont, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Rhode Island, Ms. Petrova is finally home to Massachusetts.”
++WHITE FLASH++
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Kseniia Petrova, Russian-born scientist and Harvard University researcher:
“I just want to thank everybody who was supporting me, who was following my story, especially and first of all to my friends and colleagues who were helping me. I could call them every day, they were sending me books, they came and visit me and I'm very, very grateful to them.”
++WHITE FLASH++
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Kseniia Petrova, Russian-born scientist and Harvard University researcher:
“After this a lot of people started contacting me and sending me letters and it was a huge support without which I won't be able to, to survive. And I never really felt alone in any minute when I was in custody and it's really helped me very much. Thank you.”
++WHITE FLASH++
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Greg Romanovsky, lawyer representing Petrova:
“Her legal claim is very strong, but at this point she has not decided whether she wants to stay in the United States yet. She has offers from different countries around the world, countries that are eager to support the important research that she's doing.”
++WHITE FLASH++
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Greg Romanovsky, lawyer representing Petrova:
“She is now released from immigration detention, which means that she can wait for her immigration process to unfold while at home and not locked up in a jail in Louisiana, which means that the legal process, even though it may be slow, is working.”
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STORYLINE:
A Russian-born scientist and Harvard University researcher charged with smuggling frog embryos in the U.S. shared hugs and laughs with supporters after a judge released her from federal custody on Thursday.
“I just want to thank everybody,” Kseniia Petrova said outside the federal building in Boston shortly after her release.
She wore a T-shirt that said, “Hakuna Matata,” a popular phrase from “The Lion King” that means “no worries.”
“A lot of people started contacting me and sending me letters, and it was a huge support without which I won’t be able to survive,” she said.
“I never really felt alone any minute when I was in custody, and it’s really helped me very much,” Petrova added.
Petrova, 30, who was brought into court wearing an orange jumpsuit, had been in federal custody since February.
Lawyers on both sides came to an agreement on conditions for Petrova's release, which included limiting her travel. Authorities are still holding onto her passport. Petrova must return to court next week for a probable cause hearing on the smuggling charge.
“I hear it’s sunny. Goodbye,” Magistrate Judge Judith Dein said... [truncated]
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Video at Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW-mb4TuzIE