KHIMKI, Russia — American basketball star Brittney Griner was back in court on Tuesday for her trial for cannabis possession amid U.S. diplomatic efforts to...
WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner is escorted in a court room prior to a hearing, in Khimki just outside Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022.KHIMKI, Russia — American basketball star Brittney Griner was back in court on Tuesday for her trial for cannabis possession amid U.S. diplomatic efforts to secure her release.
In an extraordinary move, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week spoke to his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, urging him to accept a deal under which Griner and Paul Whelan, an American imprisoned in Russia on an espionage conviction, would go free. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Monday that Russia has made a “bad faith” response to the U.S. government’s offer, a counteroffer that American officials don’t regard as serious. She declined to elaborate.
“There are a lot of factors that will taken by the court into account,” Griner’s attorney Maria Blagovolina told reporters after Tuesday’s hearing, adding that Griner “admitted that she did bring something, but we need to know what she did bring.” Tom Firestone, a Washington attorney who formerly served as legal adviser at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, said Griner could be handed a tough sentence as a way for Russians “to maximize their leverage in negotiations.” He told The Associated Press that Russia “may want to let this play out a little bit longer and try to extract more concessions.”
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