Brittney Griner: WNBA star sentenced to 9 years in Russian jail for drug-smuggling
Brittney Griner: WNBA star sentenced to 9 years in Russian jail for drug-smuggling
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Muricas News —
American ladies’s basketball star Brittney Griner was convicted of intentionally smuggling medicine into Russia and sentenced to 9 years of jail time Thursday in a case that has raised issues she is getting used as a political pawn in Russia’s struggle in opposition to Ukraine.
Decide Anna Sotnikova of the Khimki metropolis courtroom delivered the sentence and fined Griner 1 million rubles, or about $16,400. She stated the courtroom took into consideration Griner’s partial request for forgiveness, regret for the deed, state of well being and charitable actions. Prosecutors had requested that she be sentenced to 9.5 years in jail.
Previous to the decision, Griner apologized to the courtroom and requested for leniency in an emotional speech.
“I by no means meant to harm anyone, I by no means meant to place in jeopardy the Russian inhabitants, I by no means meant to interrupt any legal guidelines right here,” Griner stated. “I made an trustworthy mistake and I hope that in your ruling that it doesn’t finish my life right here. I do know everyone retains speaking about political pawn and politics, however I hope that that's removed from this courtroom.
“I wish to say once more that I had no intent on breaking any Russian legal guidelines. I had no intent. I didn't conspire or plan to commit this crime,” she added.
The decision comes about six months after the 31-year-old was arrested at a Moscow airport and accused by Russian prosecutors of making an attempt to smuggle lower than 1 gram of hashish oil in her baggage. The 2-time US Olympic basketball gold medalist pleaded responsible to drug prices final month and stated she unintentionally packed the medicine whereas in a rush.
The US State Division maintains Griner is wrongfully detained, and US officers have supplied a possible prisoner swap with Russia in an try and deliver her residence safely.
Griner’s legal professionals, Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov, stated in a written assertion they may enchantment the choice and criticized the courtroom for ignoring their proof.
“We're very disillusioned by the decision. As authorized professionals, we consider that the courtroom ought to be truthful to everybody no matter nationality. The courtroom fully ignored all of the proof of the protection, and most significantly, the responsible plea,” they stated within the assertion.
“This contradicts the prevailing authorized observe. Taking into consideration the quantity of the substance (to not point out the defects of the experience) and the plea, the decision is totally unreasonable. We will definitely file an enchantment.”
Photographs: WNBA Star Brittney Griner
Ned Dishman/NBAE/Getty Photos
Brittney Griner of Staff USA seems on through the recreation in opposition to the Staff Australia through the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on August 4, 2021.
Photographs: WNBA Star Brittney Griner
Brittney Griner/Fb
Brittney Griner was born on October 18, 1990, in Houston, Texas. She is the youngest little one of Raymond and Sandra Griner.
Photographs: WNBA Star Brittney Griner
Brittney Griner/Fb
Griner is on a four-wheeler in seventh grade.
Photographs: WNBA Star Brittney Griner
Brittney Griner/Fb
Griner attended Nimitz Excessive Faculty, the place she broke practically all college data in basketball.
Photographs: WNBA Star Brittney Griner
Darren Carroll/Sports activities Illustrated/Getty Photos
Griner #42 of Baylor College indicators autographs after a recreation in opposition to Louisiana Tech.
Photographs: WNBA Star Brittney Griner
Eric Homosexual/AP
Griner huddles with teammates in a semifinal recreation in opposition to Connecticut within the Closing 4 of the NCAA ladies's school basketball match in April 2010 in San Antonio.
Photographs: WNBA Star Brittney Griner
Eric Homosexual/AP
Griner goes up for the opening tip in April 2010.
Photographs: WNBA Star Brittney Griner
Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photographs/Getty Photos
Griner celebrates after Baylor defeated the College of Notre Dame 80-61 within the NCAA Championship Sport in April of 2012.
Photographs: WNBA Star Brittney Griner
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Photos
Griner pumps her fist as President Barack Obama talks about her basketball abilities within the East Room of the White Home in July 2012.
Photographs: WNBA Star Brittney Griner
Greg Nelson/Sports activities Illustrated/Getty Photos
Griner enjoying in opposition to Iowa State on the Ferrell Middle in Waco, Texas, in March 2012.
Photographs: WNBA Star Brittney Griner
Greg Nelson/Sports activities Illustrated/Getty Photos
Griner huddles with teammates earlier than a recreation begins in 2012.
Photographs: WNBA Star Brittney Griner
Christian Petersen/Getty Photos
Griner was the No. 1 choose within the 2013 WNBA draft when she was chosen by the Mercury. Her picture is proven on a downtown constructing in Phoenix.
Photographs: WNBA Star Brittney Griner
Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Photos
Griner talks with the media after being drafted by the Phoenix Mercury in 2013.
Photographs: WNBA Star Brittney Griner
Chris Marion/NBAE/Getty Photos
Griner takes a photograph through the 2013 WNBA All-Star Sport at Mohegan Solar Enviornment in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Photographs: WNBA Star Brittney Griner
Shane Bevel/NBAE/Getty Photos
Griner blocks a shot by Skylar Diggins #4 of the Tulsa Shock through the WNBA recreation on the BOK Middle in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in June 2014.
Photographs: WNBA Star Brittney Griner
Barry Gossage/NBAE/Getty Photos
Griner talks with a fan at at Chase Subject in Phoenix in Could 2014. She threw the ceremonial first pitch for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Photographs: WNBA Star Brittney Griner
Jonathan Daniel/Getty Photos
Griner holds the championship trophy after defeating the Chicago Sky in Sport 3 of the WNBA Finals in September 2014 in Chicago.
Photographs: WNBA Star Brittney Griner
Brian Babineau/NBAE/Getty Photos
Griner huddles with a gaggle of youngsters throughout a WNBA Match All-Star Clinic in 2015.
Photographs: WNBA Star Brittney Griner
Barry Gossage/NBAE/Getty Photos
Griner will get fired up earlier than her recreation in opposition to the Minnesota Lynx throughout Sport 2 of the WNBA Western Convention Finals in 2015.
Photographs: WNBA Star Brittney Griner
Olivier Douliery/Getty Photos
President Barack Obama will get a excessive 5 from Griner within the East Room on the White Home in August 2015. Obama was honoring the Phoenix Mercury gamers for his or her victory within the 2014 WNBA Finals.
Photographs: WNBA Star Brittney Griner
Christian Petersen/Getty Photos
Griner of Staff USA walks on the courtroom throughout a recreation in opposition to Spain on the 2016 Olympic Video games in Rio.
Photographs: WNBA Star Brittney Griner
Christian Petersen/Getty Photos
Griner poses for a selfie with followers in August 2016.
Photographs: WNBA Star Brittney Griner
Christian Petersen/Getty Photos
Griner through the first half of WNBA recreation in opposition to the Connecticut Solar in July 2018.
Photographs: WNBA Star Brittney Griner
Julio Aguilar/Getty Photos
Griner reacts after a 3-point basket throughout recreation in opposition to the Atlanta Dream in August 2020.
Photographs: WNBA Star Brittney Griner
Mike Ehrmann/Getty Photos
Griner takes a selfie together with her teammates and their gold medals through the Olympics medal ceremony in August 2021 in Saitama, Japan.
Photographs: WNBA Star Brittney Griner
Ethan Miller/Getty Photos
Griner kisses her spouse Cherelle Griner after the Mercury defeated the Las Vegas Aces 87-84 in Sport 5 of the 2021 WNBA Playoffs semifinals to win the sequence in October 2021.
Photographs: WNBA Star Brittney Griner
Rebecca Noble/The New York Instances/Redux
A mural of Griner exterior the Footprint Middle in Phoenix. The 2-time Olympic basketball gold medalist and WNBA star was arrested in February of 2022 after Russian customs officers allegedly detected hashish oil in her baggage at an airport close to Moscow.
Photographs: WNBA Star Brittney Griner
Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Photos
Griner arrives to a listening to on the Khimki Courtroom exterior Moscow on June 27, 2022.
Photographs: WNBA Star Brittney Griner
Alexander Zemlianichenko/Pool/AFP/Getty Photos
Griner holds images standing inside a defendants' cage earlier than a listening to on July 26, 2022.
Photographs: WNBA Star Brittney Griner
Evgenia Novozhenina/Pool/Reuters
Griner sits inside a defendants' cage on August 4 earlier than she was sentenced to 9 years of jail time.
US President Joe Biden stated the prolonged sentence was “unacceptable” and referred to as on Russia to launch her instantly.
“At this time, American citizen Brittney Griner obtained a jail sentence that's another reminder of what the world already knew: Russia is wrongfully detaining Brittney. It’s unacceptable, and I name on Russia to launch her instantly so she might be together with her spouse, family members, associates, and teammates,” Biden stated in a press release.
Cost d’Affaires of the US Embassy in Russia, Elizabeth Rood, stated the sentence was a “miscarriage of justice” and stated US officers will work to deliver Griner residence safely.
WNBA star's legal professionals: hashish was prescribed
The listening to Thursday started shortly after Griner arrived at courtroom in handcuffs, escorted by Russian officers into the defendant’s cage. As soon as uncuffed, she spoke together with her authorized crew after which held up a photograph of the UMMC Ekaterinburg basketball crew, the Russian squad she performed for through the WNBA offseason.
In closing arguments, protection lawyer Blagovolina, a associate at Rybalkin, Gortsunyan, Dyakin and Companions legislation agency, argued that Griner by no means used marijuana in Russia and that she by no means had the intention of doing so. She had no have to deliver the vape cartridges to Russia, the lawyer added. All this confirms the entire absence of intent in her actions, Blagovolina argued.
Even when Griner ever used medical marijuana, it was solely at residence again in Arizona, uncommon and solely with a health care provider’s prescription, she added. She couldn’t have recognized how strict the legal guidelines had been in Russia, Blagovolina stated.
Boykov additionally argued Griner had no alternative to correctly study the courtroom paperwork. He stated that the Russian structure ensures everybody the appropriate to make use of their native language and the free alternative of the language of communication.
Boykov cited an occasion when a language interpreter offered to Griner flipped by means of a prolonged doc supplied by an investigator for translation after which advised Griner, “Mainly, it means that you're responsible.”
All through the trial, Griner’s attorneys have laid out arguments undermining the prosecution’s case and claiming her detention was not dealt with accurately after she was stopped February 17 by personnel on the Sheremetyevo Worldwide Airport.
Her detention, search and arrest had been “improper,” Boykov stated final week, noting extra particulars can be revealed throughout closing arguments.
After she was stopped within the airport, Griner was made to signal paperwork that she didn't totally perceive, she testified. At first, she stated, she was utilizing Google translate on her telephone however was later moved to a different room the place her telephone was taken and he or she was made to signal extra paperwork.
No lawyer was current, Griner testified, and her rights weren't defined to her. These rights would come with entry to an lawyer as soon as she was detained and the appropriate to know what she was suspected of. Beneath Russian legislation, she ought to have been knowledgeable of her rights inside three hours of her arrest.
On Tuesday, on the seventh listening to in her case, a protection skilled testified that the examination of the substance contained in Griner’s vape cartridges didn't adjust to Russian legislation. Blagovolina additionally advised Muricas News her crew’s consultants recognized “a number of defects” within the machines used to measure the substance.
At trial, Griner testified she has a health care provider’s prescription for medical hashish and had no intention of bringing the drug into Russia. Following her detention in February, she was examined for medicine and was clear, her legal professionals beforehand stated.
“We proceed to insist that, by indiscretion, in a rush, she packed her suitcase and didn't take note of the truth that substances allowed to be used in america ended up on this suitcase and arrived within the Russian Federation,” Boykov, of Moscow Authorized Middle, has stated.
The trial has performed out amid the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the nation’s saber-rattling with the US and Europe.
Final week, Muricas News reported that President Joe Biden’s administration proposed a prisoner swap with Russia, providing to launch a convicted Russian arms trafficker, Viktor Bout, in trade for Griner and one other American detainee, Paul Whelan. Russian officers countered the US supply, a number of sources accustomed to the discussions have stated, however US officers didn't settle for the request as a professional counteroffer.
The Kremlin additionally warned Tuesday that US “megaphone diplomacy” won't assist negotiations for a prisoner trade involving Griner. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated Moscow believes these talks ought to be “discrete.”
Griner’s household, supporters and WNBA teammates have continued to precise messages of solidarity and hope as they look ahead to the conclusion of the trial. Her WNBA crew, the Phoenix Mercury, is predicted to play the Connecticut Solar on Thursday evening at 7 p.m. ET.
Earlier than trial proceedings final week, the WNBA gamers union tweeted, “Pricey BG … It’s early in Moscow. Our day is ending and yours is simply starting. Not a day, not an hour goes by that you simply’re not on our minds & in our hearts.”
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