U.S. prosecutors move to drop case against Harvard researcher Kseniia Petrova over undeclared frog embryos
U.S. prosecutors have asked a court to dismiss the case against Russian scientist Ksenia Petrova, who was detained in February 2025 over frog embryos she brought into the country. The request was disclosed in court documents filed the previous day. Lawyer Igor Slabykh drew attention to the filing. The document shows that prosecutors are asking the court to dismiss the case with prejudice ,…
U.S. prosecutors have filed a motion to dismiss the case against Kseniia Petrova, a Russian researcher at Harvard Medical School, who was arrested in February 2025 for allegedly failing to declare frog embryos in her luggage. The motion, disclosed in court documents, requests the dismissal of the charges with prejudice, meaning they cannot be refiled.
Prosecutors cited the high resource costs of continuing the prosecution as the primary reason for seeking dismissal. Petrova's legal team argued that she was the victim of selective prosecution. In June 2025, a grand jury indicted her on charges of smuggling, making false statements, and concealing material facts, with potential penalties of up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Despite the indictment, prosecutors determined that the expense of pursuing the case did not outweigh the public interest in resolving it.
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