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A Russian prosecutor asked a judge Thursday to sentence WNBA basketball star Brittney Griner to nine and a half years in prison on drug charges, and the defense team at her trial said they expected the judge handed down his sentence in the evening.
Reaching close to the 10-year maximum, the state’s request ignored the athlete’s plea for leniency. Griner pleaded guilty in July to bringing cannabis oil vaporizer cartridges into the country.
The prosecutor’s call for a harsh sentence for Griner, as well as a fine of 1 million rubles ($16,590), came amid calls from the United States for Russia to seriously consider its offer of a prisoner swap to take her home.
A member of Griner’s legal team, Alexander Boikov, told the judge that Griner deserved to be acquitted despite her guilty plea, saying the prosecution had failed to prove criminal intent. In addition, he said, his rights were violated during the investigation and the judicial process.
“We know that in Russia drug laws are very strict,” Boikov said, “but Russia also cares about its prestige in sports.” Griner’s career, and her play for UMMC Ekaterinburg during the WNBA offseason, has been a celebration of friendship between people, she continued. “She had many offers, but for some reason she chose cold Yekaterinburg, knowing how warmly she would be received there.”
Prosecutors say the 0.702 grams of cannabis found in Griner’s luggage after landing at Sheremetyevo International Airport in February was a “significant amount”. Griner testified last week that she was in a hurry when she packed her bags, had no idea the items were in her bags and had no intention of breaking Russian law.
The Phoenix Mercury star stated that he uses cannabis oil in the United States to treat chronic pain from injuries, but he knew that bringing cannabis into Russia was illegal. He said he flew to Russia despite warnings from the US State Department about such trips because he did not want to let his Russian team down.
The Biden administration is mounting massive public pressure to secure his release, a backroom negotiation that has been complicated by the collapse of relations between Washington and Moscow over the Ukraine war.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov late last week and urged him to accept a deal that included Griner and former security adviser Paul Whelan, a North -American serving a 16-year prison sentence in Russia. Whelan, who was arrested in 2018 and convicted of spying in 2020, says he was framed.
Blinken, Lavrov discussed possible prisoner exchange for Griner, Whelan
The United States has declined to say whether the pair would be swapped for Russian Viktor Bout, an arms dealer who was arrested in a US sting operation in Thailand in 2008.
The administration’s announcement of its proposed settlement appears to be an effort to quell criticism of its handling of the Griner case. But the Kremlin has told Washington to refrain from “megaphone diplomacy,” and Russian Foreign Ministry officials have repeatedly warned that public calls will not help their cause.
John Kirby, a spokesman for the US National Security Council, said on Tuesday that the administration would not negotiate publicly.
“We made a serious proposal, we made a serious offer,” Kirby said. “And we urge the Russians to accept this offer because it was made with sincerity, and we know we can support it.”
In recent years, the United States has resisted Russian pressure to exchange Bout given the seriousness of his crimes. He was sentenced in New York in 2011 and later to 25 years in prison for conspiring to sell surface-to-air missiles, AK-47s and explosives to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, knowing they planned to shoot him down. American helicopters.
A deal to bring Bout home would be a major political victory for Russian President Vladimir Putin, signaling to his domestic audience that, despite unprecedented Western criticism and sanctions, he still has the power to force the White House to negotiate with him.
Bloomberg has reported that as part of a swap, Moscow may seek the release of a wealthy Russian businessman close to the Kremlin, Vladislav Klyushin, who pleaded not guilty in a Boston court in January to an alleged $82 million insider trading scam. Klyushin claimed the case against him was “politically motivated” because of his ties to the Russian government.