Harvard researcher charged with trying to smuggle frog embryos to be transferred to Massachusetts

The rule of law does not have a carve out for educated individuals with pedigree,

the prosecutor added

She has requested a transfer to Massachusetts, where the complaint was filed,

her lawyer, Gregory Romanovsky, said in a statement

Lisa Rubinartistic and Executive Director, Canadian theatre director

And why was she arrested the same day that a federal judge in another court expressed doubt that customs officials had authority to revoke her visa? Something smells off here -- and it's not the 'biological material' Petrova failed to declare on her customs forms."

Rubin added

The government confirmed in court yesterday its intent to deport Kseniia to Russia, where it knows she will face grave danger for opposing the Putin regime."

He added

Lisa Rubinartistic and Executive Director, Canadian theatre director

At some point today, the administration moved to unseal its criminal complaint against Petrova in a Massachusetts federal court and represented she has been arrested,

Rubin wrote

This is not a coincidence. It is an attempt by the government to justify its outrageous and legally indefensible position that this scientist working for the U.S. on cures for cancer and aging research has somehow become a danger to the community,

the lawyer added

Yesterday’s hearing in federal district court in Vermont confirmed that Customs and Border Patrol officials had no legal basis for canceling Kseniia’s visa and detaining her on Feb. 16. Less than two hours after the Vermont judge set a hearing on Kseniia’s release, she was suddenly transferred from ICE to criminal custody. This is not a coincidence,

Romanovsky said

At Logan International Airport, I did not complete a customs declaration for frog embryos (for use in our lab’s research) in my luggage. I’m told this would normally result in a warning or a fine. Instead, my visa was revoked, and I was sent to a detention center in Louisiana,

Petrova wrote

No plan yet. I won’t be able to swallow them."

In one text message exchange cited by the office, Petrova was asked whether she

I think that there is a wrong perception that foreign scientists are somehow privileged to be in the United States. I feel it's the opposite,

Peshkin said

The truth is on my side,

said Petrova, who spoke with the AP in a video call from the Louisiana ICE detention center in Monroe

If I go back, I am afraid I will be imprisoned because of my political position and my position against war,

Petrova said

I don't think she did anything wrong,

Peshkin told the AP

I hope that the judge rules [on] Wednesday that I can be released, so I can return to my lab. There is a data set that I’m halfway finished analyzing. I want to go home and finish it,

Petrova said

The charge, filed three months after the alleged customs violation, is clearly intended to make Kseniia look like a criminal to justify their efforts to deport her,

he said in a statement

The timing of Kseniia’s transfer out of ICE custody into criminal custody is especially suspect because it happened right after the judge set a bail hearing for her release,

Romanovsky said

No matter how tough the government wants to be on immigration enforcement, they have to follow the law,

the lawyer said

When I moved to America from Russia to join a biology lab at Harvard Medical School in 2023, it felt as if I found my dream job. America was a paradise for science. Everything was flourishing,

Petrova wrote in the Times

Nobody knew what was happening to me. I didn’t have any contact, not to my lawyer, not to Leon, not to anybody,

she said, referring to Dr. Leon Peshkin, a principal research scientist at Harvard’s Department of Systems Biology and her manager and mentor

She was willing to go to Paris, but the government did not let her,

Romanovsky added