U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner 'does not expect miracles' at her appeal hearing on Tuesday against a nine-year Russian jail term for having cannabis oil in her luggage, her lawyers said in a statement.
U.S. basketball player Brittney Griner, who was detained at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport and later charged with illegal possession of cannabis, drinks water inside a defendants' cage after the court's verdict in Khimki outside Moscow, Russia August 4, 2022. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/PoolMOSCOW, Oct 24 - U.S.
Griner's lawyers, Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov, said she would take part in Tuesday's hearing by video link from the detention centre where she has been held, and that they expected a verdict the same day."She is very nervous waiting for the appeal hearing. Brittney does not expect any miracles to happen but hopes that the appeal court will hear the arguments of the defense and reduce the term," they said.
Washington says Griner was wrongfully detained and has offered to exchange her for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer serving a 25-year prison sentence in the United States.Bill Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who travelled to Moscow in September,he believes Griner and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan could both be released by the end of the year. A U.S. consular officer spoke briefly on the phone with both detainees last Tuesday.