KHIMKI, Russia — Russian prosecutors requested a courtroom outdoors Moscow to condemn American basketball star Brittney Griner to 9 1/2 years in jail as closing arguments in her hashish possession trial had been made Thursday.
The trial is nearing its finish practically six months after Griner’s arrest at a Moscow airport and subsequent detention, a case that has reached the very best ranges of U.S.-Russia diplomacy. She faces as much as 10 years in jail, if convicted
Although a conviction seems virtually sure, on condition that Russian courts not often acquit defendants and Griner has acknowledged having vape cartridges with hashish oil in her baggage, judges have appreciable latitude on sentencing.
Lawyers for the Phoenix Mercury middle and two-time Olympic gold medalist have pursued methods to bolster Griner’s rivalry that she had no felony intent and that the canisters ended up in her baggage attributable to hasty packing. They have offered character witnesses from the Russian staff that she performs for within the WNBA low season and written testimony from a health care provider who stated he prescribed her hashish for ache remedy.
A lawyer on Griner’s protection staff, Maria Blagovolina, argued that Griner introduced the cartridges together with her to Russia inadvertently and solely used hashish as drugs and solely whereas in Arizona, the place medical marijuana is authorized. A prosecutor, Nikolai Vlasenko, argued that Griner packed the hashish oil intentionally.
It’s not clear when the decision can be introduced. If she doesn’t go free, consideration will flip to the high-stakes risk of a prisoner swap.
Before her trial started in July, the State Department designated her as “wrongfully detained,” transferring her case underneath the supervision of its particular presidential envoy for hostage affairs, successfully the federal government’s chief hostage negotiator.
Then final week, in a unprecedented transfer, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, urging him to just accept a deal underneath which Griner and Paul Whelan, an American imprisoned in Russia on an espionage conviction, would go free.
The Lavrov-Blinken name marked the highest-level recognized contact between Washington and Moscow since Russia despatched troops into Ukraine greater than 5 months in the past. The direct outreach over Griner is at odds with U.S. efforts to isolate the Kremlin.
People aware of the proposal say it envisions buying and selling Griner and Whelan for the infamous arms dealer Viktor Bout. It underlines the general public strain that the White House has confronted to get Griner launched.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre informed reporters Monday that Russia has made a “bad faith” response to the U.S. authorities’s provide, a counteroffer that American officers don’t regard as critical. She declined to elaborate.
Russian officers have scoffed at U.S. statements concerning the case, saying they present a disrespect for Russian legislation. They remained poker-faced, urging Washington to debate the problem via “quiet diplomacy without releases of speculative information.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”