The spa employee from Los Angeles entered a guilty plea during her Yekaterinburg trial. She presented her final request to the judge on Thursday, according to the court press office, and her sentencing is scheduled for August 15.
Karelina’s lawyer, Mikhail Mushailov, stated that although she was left out of a significant prisoner swap between Russia and the West last week, she hoped to be included in a future exchange.
“Until the court ruling takes effect, an exchange is not possible,” Mushailov informed reporters. “After the verdict, of course, we will work in this direction.”
Although Karelina was born in Russia, she immigrated to the US in 2012 and obtained US citizenship in 2021. At the beginning of the year, she had flown to Russia to see her relatives in Yekaterinburg, where she was detained by the FSB security force.
When investigators saw on her phone that she had sent $51.80 to Razom, a humanitarian organization that aids Ukraine during Russia’s invasion of its neighbor in February 2022, they filed a treason case against her. The Ukrainian army was the ultimate winner, according to the FSB.
The charity expressed its “appalled” reaction to Karelina’s apprehension. According to its website, it backs several humanitarian initiatives, such as providing first aid kits, wood heaters, generators, radios, and cars to front-line Ukrainian doctors.
It also provides food, shelter, psychological support, and clean water to disadvantaged communities devastated by the war and children from Ukraine.
As is customary in Russian treason or espionage trials, journalists were not allowed in the courtroom during Karelina’s trial.
Mushailov stated that Karelina had helped with the inquiry, giving up her phone voluntarily among other things, thus the prosecution’ suggestion for 15 years in a correctional colony was excessively harsh.
He claimed that she had entered a guilty plea because “it was stupid in this situation to deny the obvious” and in an attempt to receive a lighter punishment.
In last week’s East-West exchange, which featured 24 detainees jailed in seven countries, three American citizens—journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, as well as former Marine Paul Whelan—were among those liberated, opens new tab from Russian jails.
Karelina is one of several Americans being detained in Russia on various charges. These include Marc Fogel, a former teacher receiving a 14-year sentence for being detected in possession of marijuana that he claimed he used to relieve pain, and Gordon Black, a soldier who was sentenced to three years and nine months in June for attacking and stealing from his Russian girlfriend.
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