WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner, center, is escorted in a court room prior to a hearing, in Khimki just outside Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022. Closing arguments in Brittney Griner's cannabis possession case are set for Thursday, nearly six months after the American basketball star was arrested at a Moscow airport in a case that reached the highest levels of US-Russia diplomacy. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
After finding her guilty of knowingly importing cannabis-infused vape cartridges into Russia, a Russian court sentenced American basketball player Brittney Griner to nine years in jail on Thursday. U.S. President Joe Biden called the decision “awful.”
After the decision, Griner was led out of the courthouse by police while being restrained, turned to the media and saying, “I love my family.”
Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) standout and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner was detained in mid-February when she traveled to play for a Russian team during the WNBA offseason. The Texan was thrust into the global uproar when President Vladimir Putin launched soldiers into Ukraine on February 24, bringing relations between the two countries to a new post-Cold War low.
The athlete, 31, and an imprisoned Russian who was formerly a successful arms trader could be exchanged in a prisoner swap between the United States and Russia as a result of her sentencing.
Although Griner had acknowledged possessing the vape cartridges containing hashish oil, she claimed she had packed them accidentally.
She begged the Russian judge before the decision not to “end her life” with a lengthy prison term. She was also assessed a $16,990 fine by the court.
Under pressure to return Americans detained in Russia, Biden urged Moscow to promptly release Griner and pledged that his government would continue to push for her freedom.
He added in a statement that Brittney Griner’s prison term “Today, American citizen Brittney Griner received a prison sentence that is one more reminder of what the world already knew: Russia is wrongfully detaining Brittney,”
It’s outrageous, and I demand that Russia free her as soon as can so she may be with her wife, family, friends, and teammates.
Attorneys for Griner announced that they would challenge the decision, calling it “absolutely unreasonable” The court, according to her defense team, disregarded all of the evidence they had provided as well as Griner’s admission of guilt.
After the hearing, Maria Blagovolina, a partner at Rybalkin Gortsunyan Dyakin and Partners, stated, “She is very upset, very stressed,” “She barely speaks. She’s going through a difficult period.”
In the event that Griner was found guilty of bringing illegal substances into the country, the Russian prosecutor had requested that she be given a 9-1/2 year prison sentence.
Photo courtesy of aapkiaawajnews.com
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