Harvard scientist Kseniia Petrova is set to be transferred from a Louisiana jail to Massachusetts whereshe faces a strongly disputed charge of felony smuggling. On May 15, federal Magistrate Judge Kayla McClusky of Louisiana's western district ordered the30-year-old Russian researcher'stransfer, 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 aHarvard Medical Schoollab 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. The single felony charge carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison or a fine of up to $250,000, McClusky said. Federal prosecutors on May 14 unsealed the smuggling charge just hours after Petrova first appeared in Vermont federal court for her lawsuit against the Trump administration. Then, the judge set a bail hearing on May 28. "This is not a coincidence," Romanovsky said in a statement. "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." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Judge orders Harvard scientist Kseniia Petrova transferred to Mass.
