The Russian Justice sentenced the American basketball player Brittney Griner to nine years in prison for drug possession and smuggling. The judge, Anna Sotnikova, considered the athlete “guilty of committing the crime” stipulated by articles 228 and 229.1 of the Russian criminal code (drug possession and trafficking).
US offers Russia a deal to release two Americans
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The court considered both the US citizen’s admission of guilt and her achievements as a basketball player, world champion and Olympian a mitigating factor. Griner, who was arrested last February at a Moscow airport with cannabis oil in her suitcase, said she understood the ruling and showed little emotion, despite its severity.
Griner admitted his “mistake”
His lawyers, who this week questioned the cannabis samples taken by the Russian police after his arrest as evidence, announced that they will appeal the ruling. The prosecutor considered that “Brittney Griner’s guilt has been fully proven”, the defense had requested her acquittal or, failing her, the least possible prison sentence.
Russian legislation punishes the crime committed by the American, 2.06 meters tall and who plays for the Russian team UMMC in Yekaterinburg, with a maximum of ten years in prison. Previously, the condemned woman had admitted her “mistake” on Thursday, but she also asked for mercy during the hearing held at the Khimki urban court, in the Moscow region.
“I made a mistake without bad intention and I hope that the mistake does not end my life,” he said.
prisoner exchange
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, has demanded as soon as the sentence was known that the player be released “immediately”. “This is unacceptable, and I call on Russia to release her immediately so that she can be with her wife, her loved ones, her friends and her teammates,” the president said in a statement distributed. by the White House.
The US government considers that the arrest of the basketball player when crossing the border with cannabis oil was “wrong” and demands her immediate release, like many NBA and WNBA stars, while the Kremlin denied that the process has a “background political”.
The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, proposed last week to his Russian colleague, Sergei Lavrov, the exchange of Griner and Paul Whelan, sentenced to 16 years for espionage, for the “merchant of death”, Victor But, who serves 25 years in jail in an American prison.
Recently, the White House rejected the “opponent” of Russia, who wanted to include a second Russian prisoner in the exchange, the Chechen Vadím Krásikov, as reported by CNN.
