US basketball star Brittney Griner is interesting in opposition to her nine-year Russian jail sentence for drug possession.
Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was convicted on 4 August after authorities discovered hashish oil in her baggage at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport in February.
Her lawyer Maria Blagovolina mentioned she had filed an attraction in opposition to the jail sentence, in line with Russian information companies.
Whereas the grounds for the attraction aren't but clear, Blagovolina complained after the conviction that Griner's nine-year sentence was "extreme".
She claimed that in comparable instances defendants have acquired a median sentence of about 5 years, with a couple of third of them granted parole.
Griner admitted that she had vape canisters containing hashish oil in her baggage however mentioned she had no prison intent.
Her defence workforce instructed the courtroom that she had been prescribed hashish oil to deal with ache.
Earlier than her conviction, the US State Division declared Griner to be “wrongfully detained.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned in July that the US had made a "substantial proposal" to Russia to return Griner house together with Paul Whelan, an American serving a 16-year sentence in Russia for espionage.
It was reported that the proposal concerned a prisoner swap for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms vendor who's serving a 25-year sentence within the US.
On Sunday, a senior Russian diplomat mentioned talks had been carried out about an change of prisoners.
Alexander Darchiev, head of the International Ministry’s North America division, mentioned: "This fairly delicate concern of the swap of convicted Russian and U.S. residents is being mentioned by way of the channels outlined by our presidents,"
"These people are, certainly, being mentioned. The Russian facet has lengthy been in search of the discharge of Viktor Bout."
Post a Comment