KHIMKI, Russia (AP) — American basketball star Brittney Griner was again in court docket on Tuesday for her trial for hashish possession amid U.S. diplomatic efforts to safe her launch.
In the course of the listening to, prosecutors known as a state narcotics professional who analyzed hashish present in Griner’s baggage. Her protection fielded a specialist who challenged the evaluation, charging that it was flawed and didn’t conform to official guidelines.
Griner was escorted into court docket in handcuffs and positioned inside a cage within the trial in Khimki, a city on the northern fringe of Moscow. Whereas within the cage she held up private pictures.
The trial adjourned till Thursday, when closing statements are scheduled.
If convicted, the Ladies’s Nationwide Basketball Affiliation (WNBA) star and two-time Olympic gold medalist might face 10 years in jail. As her trial has progressed, the Biden administration has confronted rising public strain to get her launched.
In a rare transfer, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken final week 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 at odds with U.S. efforts to isolate the Kremlin.
Individuals 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 Home has confronted to get Griner launched.
White Home Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre instructed reporters Monday that Russia has made a “unhealthy religion” response to the U.S. authorities’s provide, a counteroffer that American officers don’t regard as critical. She declined to elaborate.
Griner has acknowledged there have been vape canisters containing hashish oil in her baggage when she was arrested at a Moscow airport in February. However she insisted that she had no felony intent and that the canisters ended up in her baggage as a result of she was packing unexpectedly. Griner performed for a Russian girls’s basketball group within the WNBA low season.
To bolster her case, her protection legal professionals have offered testimony from docs that she was prescribed hashish as a therapy for ache. Medical marijuana therapy just isn't authorized in Russia.
“There are lots of elements that may taken by the court docket into consideration,” Griner’s lawyer Maria Blagovolina instructed reporters after Tuesday’s listening to, including that Griner “admitted that she did carry one thing, however we have to know what she did carry.”
Whereas judges have leeway to contemplate mitigating elements underneath Russian regulation, acquittals are uncommon and account for lower than 1% of instances in Russian felony prosecutions.
A conviction, nonetheless, might doubtlessly pave the best way for Griner’s trade as Russian officers mentioned it might solely occur after the judicial course of is accomplished.
Tom Firestone, a Washington lawyer who previously served as authorized adviser on the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, mentioned Griner might be handed a troublesome sentence as a manner for Russians “to maximise their leverage in negotiations.” He instructed The Related Press that Russia “could need to let this play out somewhat bit longer and attempt to extract extra concessions.”
Russian officers have scoffed at U.S. statements in regards to the case, saying they present a disrespect for Russian regulation. They remained poker-faced, urging Washington to debate the problem by way of “quiet diplomacy with out releases of speculative data.”
Requested in regards to the newest White Home remark relating to the Russian counteroffer, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov wouldn’t provide any particulars.
“Any trade of knowledge on the topic ought to be discreet with none ‘loudspeaker diplomacy,’” he instructed reporters. “Public trade of positions won't yield any outcome.”
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Eric Tucker in Washington and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.
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