US basketball player sentenced to long prison term in Russia
“I plead guilty. I had no intention of violating Russian laws”
A Russian court has sentenced US basketball player Brittney Griner to nine years in a prison camp for illegal drug possession. A fine of one million rubles (16,000 euros) was also imposed.
Brittney Griner has been found guilty of drug smuggling in Russia. A Russian court has sentenced the US basketball player to a long prison term. US President Joe Biden sharply criticized the verdict.
EA Russian court has sentenced US basketball player Brittney Griner to nine years in prison for illegal drug possession. In addition, a fine of one million rubles (16,000 euros) was imposed, according to the Tass agency on Thursday from the court in Khimki near Moscow.
The public prosecutor had demanded nine and a half years in prison for the athlete. “All in all, I ask that Griner be sentenced to nine years and six months imprisonment in a correctional institution and a fine of one million rubles (16,500 euros),” the prosecutor said in court, according to the Interfax agency. The demand was just under the maximum sentence of ten years.
US President Joe Biden sharply criticized Griner’s conviction and called for her release. “Russia is wrongly holding Brittney,” Biden said in a written statement Thursday. “This is unacceptable and I urge Russia to release her immediately to be with her wife, family, friends and teammates.” Biden said the US government is continuing to work tirelessly to secure Griner as soon as possible to bring home.
Brittney Griner, two-time Olympic gold medalist, holds up a photo of her team caged in a courtroom for cameras before a hearing in Khimki
Quelle: dpa/Evgenia Novozhenina
The US Olympic champion has been in custody for five and a half months. The athlete is said to have had so-called vape cartridges and hashish oil with her when her luggage was checked in Sheremetyevo in February. It is said to have been 0.5 grams. Griner has pleaded guilty.
The process has long had a political component: Washington accuses Moscow of a politically motivated process. US President Joe Biden pledged help to Brittney Griner’s wife Cherelle Griner in a telephone call in early July.
US and Russia negotiate prisoner swap
A phone call between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Russian colleague Sergei Lavrov also discussed the possibility of a prisoner exchange that would help the athlete to be released. Among other things, Russia is demanding the release of the notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout.
Since 2015, Griner has played for the UMMC Yekaterinburg team in the Urals. She won the Euroleague four times with the top club. Griner is considered one of the best basketball players in the American women’s professional league WNBA. With the Phoenix Mercury she won the championship in 2014, with the US national team she won two gold medals at the World Championships in addition to two Olympic victories. Many professional players like Griner are not only active in their home leagues, but also abroad, including in Russia so far.
“They called him the Merchant of Death”
“This is about a prisoner exchange,” says WELT correspondent Christoph Wanner. The planned talks between US Secretary of State Blinken and his Russian counterpart Lavrov are said to be about US basketball player Brittney Griner and Russian arms dealer Viktor But.
