BREAKING DETAILS: Griner reacted to the sentence with little emotion. She listened to the verdict with a blank stare on her face. BrittneyGriner
WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner, right, enters a cage in a courtroom prior to a hearing in Khimki just outside Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022. Closing arguments in Brittney Griner's cannabis possession case are set for Thursday, nearly six months after the American basketball star was arrested at a Moscow airport in a case that reached the highest levels of US-Russia diplomacy. – U.S.
The disclosure in July that the U.S. government was seeking a prisoner swap involving Griner reflected the growing pressure on the Biden administration to do more to bring her home. The U.S. State Department had earlier declared Griner to be “wrongfully detained” — a charge that Russia has sharply rejected.Griner, recognized as one of the greatest players in WNBA history, has been detained since Feb.
Her lawyers introduced evidence that Griner was using the medicinal cannabis for chronic pain and injuries sustained during her career and included a letter from her doctor. Griner testified she was aware that cannabis oil was outlawed in Russia and had not intended to break the law or “plan to smuggle anything into Russia.
Cherelle Griner, who also spoke with Vice President Kamala Harris, later said she was “grateful to the both of them for the time they spent with me and for the commitment they expressed to getting BG home,” using her wife’s initials.On July 27, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington has offered a deal to Russia aimed at bringing home Griner and Whelan in a sharp reversal of previous policy.
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