Harvard researcher released from custody after months in detention

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Kseniia Petrova, a Russian scientist at Harvard University's Medical School who was detained after being accused of smuggling undeclared frog embryos into the U.S., was released from custody Thursday.
Petrova was arrested by ICE agents at Logan International Airport on Feb. 16 after returning from a trip to France with what were described in a court filing as 'non-hazardous, noninfectious, and non-toxic frog embryos.' She has remained in custody in the nearly four months since her arrest.
The Department of Homeland Security, through a spokesperson, claimed Petrova 'knowingly broke the law and took deliberate steps to evade it,' the statement read. The department claimed text messages 'revealed she planned to smuggle the materials through customs without declaring them.'
A federal court judge in Vermont ordered Petrova released last month, court records show. She was brought to Massachusetts for a detention hearing on a single count of smuggling goods into the U.S.
Following the hearing Thursday, Magistrate Judge Judith G. Dein allowed Petrova's release on conditions.
'I just want to thank everybody,' 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 after approving the agreement.
Greg Romanovsky, Petrova's attorney, said his client hasn't '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. She's weighing her options at the moment, and she's very grateful to be out,' he said.
She told The Associated Press in an interview in April that she did not realize the items needed to be declared and was not trying to sneak anything into the country.
In May, Petrova was charged with smuggling in Massachusetts as a federal judge in Vermont set the hearing date on her petition. That judge later ruled that the immigration officers' actions were unlawful, that Petrova didn't present a danger, and that the embryos were nonliving, nonhazardous and 'posed a threat to no one.'
The judge released Petrova from ICE custody, but she remained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service on the smuggling charge before her release Thursday.
Colleagues and academics have testified on Petrova's behalf, saying she is doing valuable research to advance cures for cancer.
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Read the original article on MassLive.