Harvard scientist Kseniia Petrova to be transferred to Massachusetts
Source: USA Today
May 15, 2025, 1:23 p.m. ET
Harvard scientist Kseniia Petrova is set to be transferred from a Louisiana jail to Massachusetts where she faces a strongly disputed charge of felony smuggling. On May 15, federal Magistrate Judge Kayla McClusky of Louisiana’s western district ordered the 30-year-old Russian researcher's transfer, a day after federal prosecutors charged her criminally for bringing non-living lab samples from Paris.
In the 20-minute Zoom hearing, McClusky didn't set a timeline for Petrova's transfer. After the hearing, Petrova's lawyer Gregory Romanovsky said he expected federal officials would send Petrova to Massachusetts in the next few weeks.
Petrova, who works for a Harvard Medical School lab studying aging and cancer, has sued the Trump administration for her three-month-long detention. Before charging her criminally, officials had been seeking to deport her to Russia, where she said she would face persecution for protesting the war in Ukraine.
During the Louisiana hearing, Petrova appeared on camera in a tan jail uniform. She had been held in immigration detention in Louisiana since mid-February, before being transferred May 14 to Ouachita Correctional Center, a Louisiana parish jail.
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/05/15/judge-harvard-scientist-kseniia-petrova-smuggling-charge/83646657007/
REFERENCE - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143427729
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