The American basketball star Brittney Griner has misplaced her attraction in opposition to a nine-year jail sentence.
The all-star centre with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury who can be a double Olympic champion, was convicted of drug possession on August 4 after the police discovered hashish vape canisters in her baggage at Moscow Airport.
The Moscow area courtroom upheld her sentence on Tuesday.
The courtroom did, nonetheless, say that the time she should serve shall be recalculated. Each day she spent in pre-trial detention shall be counted as 1.5 days in jail, which means she’s going to most likely serve about eight years in jail.
Griner appeared on the listening to by way of video hyperlink from a penal colony simply outdoors Moscow the place she is being held.
She was arrested in February at a time of heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington, simply days earlier than Russia despatched troops into Ukraine.
At the time, Griner was returning to Russia, the place she performed in the course of the WNBA offseason.
She admitted having the canisters in her baggage however claimed she inadvertently packed them when dashing to catch her flight and had no prison intent.
Her defence crew offered written statements saying she had been prescribed hashish to deal with ache.
Her legal professionals additionally argued that the sentence of 9 years, near the utmost for the offence of 10 years, was extreme, saying that different defendants in related circumstances have obtained a median sentence of about 5 years, and a few third got parole.
The US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan mentioned that the listening to was “another sham judicial proceeding,” including that President Biden “is willing to go to extraordinary lengths and make tough decisions to bring Americans home”.
Before her conviction, the US State Department mentioned Griner had been “wrongfully detained”, a cost Russia rejects.
Pressure is rising within the US for the Biden administration to carry dwelling the basketball participant.
In July the Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, mentioned that Washington had made a “substantial proposal” to get her again, together with one other American convicted in Russia of espionage, Paul Whelan.
Mr Blinken didn’t clarify what the proposal was, but it surely was reported that Washington was ready to trade Griner and Whelan for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms seller nicknamed the Merchant of Death who’s serving 25 years within the US.
Source: information.sky.com”