MOSCOW (Washington Insider Magazine)– A Russian court set October 25 as the date for American basketball player Brittney Griner’s appeal against her 9-year jail term for drug charges, reported ABC NEWS.
Griner, a 2-time Olympic gold medalist and an 8-time all-star center for the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA, was found guilty on August 4 after police at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport said they discovered vape cartridges carrying cannabis oil in her luggage.
She will have her appeal heard, the Moscow region court announced.
Griner acknowledged having the canisters in her suitcase, but she said that she had packed them accidentally and without any criminal intent. Her defense team provided formal confirmation that she had received a cannabis prescription for pain relief.
In February, just days before Russia deployed soldiers into Ukraine, there were rising tensions between Washington and Moscow. Griner, who is regarded as one of the best players in WNBA history, was at the time traveling back to Russia, where she had played during the the U.S. league’s offseason.
Griner’s attorneys contended that the punishment was harsh after the conviction since the 9-year sentence was close to the maximum of ten years. According to them, offenders in situations like these got an average term of 5 years, with approximately a third of them being given parole.
Prior to her conviction, the U.S. State Department asserted that Griner had been “wrongfully detained”; however, Russia has categorically denied this claim.
U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken took the unusual action of going public with the news that Washington had made a “substantial proposal” to get Griner and Paul Whelan, an American serving a 16-year prison sentence in Russia for espionage, back home in July, reflecting the mounting pressure on Biden office to do more to bring them home.
Blinken did not provide further details, but according to The Associated Press and other news agencies, Washington has offered to swap Whelan and Griner for Viktor Bout, a Russian weapons dealer who was once known as the “merchant of death” and is currently serving a 25-year sentence in the United States.
The White House claimed that Russia has not yet responded to its offer in a useful manner.
Russian officials have declined to respond to the American request and encouraged Washington to hold private discussions in order to avoid making public remarks.
Last month, Cherelle Griner, Brittney Griner’s wife, and Lindsay Colas, the player’s agent, met with U.S. President Joe Biden. The sister of Paul Whelan, Elizabeth Whelan, and Biden also took a seat apart.
The president reiterated to the families his “continued commitment to working through all available avenues to bring Paul and Brittney home safely,” the White House stated after the discussions.
In April, the Biden government carried out a prisoner exchange in which Moscow freed Marine veteran Trevor Reed in return for the release by the United States of a Russian pilot named Konstantin Yaroshenko who had been found guilty of participating in a drug trafficking scheme.
