U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner was convicted Thursday in Russia of drug possession and sentenced to 9 years in jail following a politically charged trial that got here amid hovering tensions between Moscow and Washington over Ukraine and will result in a high-stakes prisoner trade between the 2 world powers.
The 31-year-old Griner, a two-time U.S. Olympic champion and a eight-time all-star with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury listened with a clean expression as an interpreter translated the decision by Judge Anna Sotnikova. The choose additionally fined 1 million rubles (about $16,700) fantastic.
U.S. President Joe Biden denounced the decision and sentence as “unacceptable.” “I call on Russia to release her immediately so she can be with her wife, loved ones, friends, and teammates,” Biden mentioned, including that he would proceed to work to convey dwelling Griner and Paul Whelan, an American imprisoned in Russia on an espionage conviction.
Earlier within the session, with a conviction all however sure, an emotional Griner made a ultimate attraction to the courtroom for leniency. She mentioned she had no intention to interrupt the regulation by bringing vape cartridges with hashish oil when she flew to Moscow in February to play basketball within the metropolis of Yekaterinburg.
“I want to apologize to my teammates, my club, my fans and the city of (Yekaterinburg) for my mistake that I made and the embarrassment that I brought on them,” Griner mentioned, her voice cracking. “I want to also apologize to my parents, my siblings, the Phoenix Mercury organization back at home, the amazing women of the WNBA, and my amazing spouse back at home.” Under Russian regulation, the 31-year-old Griner faces as much as 10 years in jail, however judges have appreciable latitude on sentencing.
If she doesn’t go free, consideration will flip to the opportunity of a high-stakes prisoner swap that was proposed final week by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to his Russian counterpart.
Griner mentioned she made “an honest mistake” in bringing the vape cartridges into Russia, including: “I hope in your ruling it does not end my life.” Griner mentioned Yekaterinburg, a metropolis east of the Ural Mountains, had change into her “second home.” “I had no idea that the team, the cities, the fans, my teammates would make such a great impression on me over the 6 1/2 years that I spent here,” she mentioned. “I remember vividly coming out of the gym and all the little girls that were in the stands there waiting on me, and that’s what kept making me come back here.” Prosecutor Nikolai Vlasenko insisted that Griner packed the hashish oil intentionally, and he requested the courtroom handy Briner a fantastic of 1 million rubles (about $16,700) along with the jail sentence.
Lawyers for the Phoenix Mercury middle and two-time Olympic gold medalist have sought to bolster Griner’s rivalry that she had no felony intent and that the canisters ended up in her baggage by mistake. They offered character witnesses from the Yekaterinburg workforce that she performs for within the WNBA offseason and written testimony from a physician who mentioned he prescribed her hashish for ache remedy from accidents sustained in her basketball profession.
Her lawyer, Maria Blagovolina, argued that Griner used the hashish solely in Arizona, the place medical marijuana is authorized.
She emphasised that Griner was packing in haste after a grueling flight and affected by the implications of COVID-19. Blagovolina additionally identified that the evaluation of hashish present in Griner’s possession was flawed and violated authorized procedures.
Blagovolina requested the courtroom to acquit Griner, noting that she had no previous felony report and hailing her position in “the development of Russian basketball.” Another protection lawyer, Alexander Boykov, emphasised Griner’s position in taking her Yekaterinburg workforce to win a number of championships, noting that she was liked and admired by her teammates. He advised the choose {that a} conviction would undermine Russia’s efforts to develop nationwide sports activities and make Moscow’s name to depoliticize sports activities sound shallow.
Boykov added that even after her arrest, Griner received the sympathy of each her guards and jail inmates, who supported her by shouting, “Brittney, everything will be OK!” when she went on walks on the jail.
Before her trial started in July, the State Department designated her as “wrongfully detained,” shifting her case below the supervision of its particular presidential envoy for hostage affairs, successfully the federal government’s chief hostage negotiator.
Then final week, in a unprecedented transfer, Blinken spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, urging him to just accept a deal below which Griner and Whelan would go free.
The Lavrov-Blinken name marked the highest-level recognized contact between Washington and Moscow since Russia despatched troops into Ukraine greater than 5 months in the past. The direct outreach over Griner is at odds with U.S. efforts to isolate the Kremlin.
People accustomed to the proposal say it envisions buying and selling Griner and Whelan for the infamous arms dealer Viktor Bout, who’s serving a jail sentence within the United States. It underlines the general public stress that the White House has confronted to get Griner launched.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre mentioned Monday that Russia has made a “bad faith” response to the U.S. authorities’s supply, a counteroffer that American officers don’t regard as critical. She declined to elaborate.
Russian officers have scoffed at U.S. statements concerning the case, saying they present a disrespect for Russian regulation. They remained poker-faced, urging Washington to debate the difficulty by “quiet diplomacy without releases of speculative information.”
