A Russian court has upheld the nine-year sentence of U.S. WNBA basketball star Brittney Griner for possessing and smuggling vape cartridges containing cannabis oil.
The court dismissed her appeal on Tuesday paving the way for her to be sent to a penal colony, in a court case that Washington has called a “sham.”
U.S. President Joe Biden, whose administration in late July had proposed a deal for a prisoner swap with Russia to secure the release of Griner and former U.S. marine Paul Whelan, said he will not let up efforts to bring them home.
“We’re in constant contact with Russian authorities to get Brittney and others out. So far we’ve not been meeting with much positive response but we’re not stopping,” he said.
Griner and her lawyers had asked for acquittal or at least a reduction in her sentence, which they said was disproportionate to the offense and at odds with Russian judicial practice.
After retiring for no more than 30 minutes to consider the appeal, the presiding judge said the original verdict was upheld “without changes” except for the counting of time served in pre-trial detention as part of the sentence.
The state prosecutor had said Griner’s August 4 sentence of nine years in a penal colony was “fair”, but Alexander Boykov, one of her lawyers, had told the three-judge panel sitting in Krasnogorsk, on the outskirts of Moscow:
“No judge, hand on heart, will honestly say that Griner’s nine-year sentence is in line with Russian criminal law,” Boykov said.
“The severity and cruelty of the sentence applied to Griner shock people around the world,” Boykov said.
Permitted to make a final statement by live video link from her detention center in the town of Novoye Grishino, just outside Moscow, Griner said how stressful her eight-month detention and two trials had been.
“I was barely over the significant amount [of cannabis oil] … People with more severe crimes have gotten less than what I was given,” she said.
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Griner apologized for what she said was an honest mistake, as she had at her original trial, saying: “I did not intend to do this”, and asking the court to take into account the fact that she had pleaded guilty.
She has said she used medical cannabis to relieve the pain from a series of sports injuries.
Both recreational and medicinal uses are prohibited in Russia.
When asked if she had understood the verdict, she merely replied “Yes” before being led away.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a briefing that Washington has been asking Moscow, including in their talks in recent days, to engage on the U.S. proposal.
“At the very least they should engage seriously and constructively and in good faith. If that happens, we are prepared to see to it and to take steps tomorrow,” Price said.
Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medallist, was arrested on February 17 at a Moscow airport, a week before Russia sent troops into Ukraine.
Zainab Sa’id
