US basketball superstar Brittney Griner is interesting towards her nine-year Russian jail sentence for drug ownership.
Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was once convicted on 4 August after government discovered hashish oil in her baggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport in February.
Her attorney Maria Blagovolina stated she had filed an enchantment towards the jail sentence, in step with Russian information companies.
While the grounds for the enchantment don’t seem to be but transparent, Blagovolina complained after the conviction that Griner’s nine-year sentence was once “excessive”.
She claimed that during equivalent circumstances defendants have gained a median sentence of about 5 years, with a couple of 3rd of them granted parole.
Griner admitted that she had vape canisters containing hashish oil in her baggage however stated she had no legal intent.
Her defence workforce advised the court docket that she have been prescribed hashish oil to regard ache.
Before her conviction, the United States State Department declared Griner to be “wrongfully detained.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated in July that the United States had made a “substantial proposal” to Russia to go back Griner house at the side of Paul Whelan, an American serving a 16-year sentence in Russia for espionage.
It was once reported that the proposal concerned a prisoner switch for Viktor Bout, a Russian palms broker who’s serving a 25-year sentence in the United States.
On Sunday, a senior Russian diplomat stated talks have been carried out about an change of prisoners.
Alexander Darchiev, head of the Foreign Ministry’s North America division, stated: “This quite sensitive issue of the swap of convicted Russian and U.S. citizens is being discussed through the channels defined by our presidents,”
“These individuals are, indeed, being discussed. The Russian side has long been seeking the release of Viktor Bout.”
