KHIMKI, Russia: ALL OF US basketball star Brittney Griner returns to a Russian court on Thursday (Aug 4) as her medications trial grinds in the direction of a finale which could end with a 10-year prison sentence plus an US-Russia prisoner swap for one of the tour’s most notorious arms dealers.
Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medallist and a Women’s Nationwide Basketball Association (WNBA) star, was detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on February 17 with vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage.
Cannabis is illegal within Russia for both medicinal and recreational purposes.
The cartridges threw the 31-year-old Texan athlete into the geopolitical maelstrom triggered when Leader Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine on Feb twenty-four.
During the majority of strained US-Russian relations since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, ALL OF US President Joe Biden is under pressure to intervene on behalf of detained Americans – including Griner.
The usa has said Griner was wrongfully detained plus made what Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the “substantial offer” in order to Moscow to exchange Russian prisoners for Americans held in Russia, including Griner plus former Marine Paul Whelan.
One particular source familiar with the situation said that Washington was willing to exchange convicted arms trafficker Viktor Bout, whose existence helped inspire the particular 2005 Hollywood film Lord of Battle, starring Nicholas Crate.
Russian officials have said a deal has not been reached. They argue that Griner violated the state’s laws and should end up being judged accordingly.
The Kremlin has also repeatedly warned Wa against resorting to megaphone diplomacy, or negotiations conducted by means of press releases. They say this strategy could derail the particular swap.
Griner’s lawyer said upon Tuesday that the trial should end soon and that once the courtroom renders a verdict, a swap among Russia and the United states of america would become lawfully possible.
Griner, who pleaded accountable but denied planning to break Russian laws, has shown little emotion in court. Her lawyer said on Tuesday that Griner was both anxious and focused because the trial neared the end.
Wearing round-rimmed glasses and athletic clothing each and every hearing, Griner listened to the proceedings with a translator and spoke quietly to her lawyers through the bars from the defendant’s cage in the Khimki District Courtroom outside Moscow.
Before taking a chair, Griner held up personal photographs, including a lot of her wife Cherelle, whom Biden called last month to assure that Washington had been working to secure Briner’s release.
Griner had flown to Russia to join the girl team, UMMC Ekaterinburg, for the playoffs after working time at home in the usa. Griner played in the Russian Women’s Golf ball Premier League during the WNBA offseason.
In her accounts last week, Griner expressed puzzlement as to the way the vape cartridges experienced ended up in her luggage.
“I still don’t understand even today how they ended up in my bag, ” the girl told the court on Jul twenty-seven. “If I had in order to guess on how they ended up in my hand bags, I was in a rush packing. ”
Griner had been prescribed medical marijuana in the United States just for chronic injury pain, a treatment method which is common among top notch athletes because it provides fewer side effects compared to some painkillers.