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Russian Court Sentences Griner to 9 Years, Raising Pressure on Biden


A Russian court on Thursday sentenced the American basketball star Brittney Griner up to nine years in a penal colony after convicting her on drug charges, a harsh punishment that plunged her fate into the geopolitical fray over the war in Ukraine and increased the pressure that pressure on President Biden to demand her release.

The US government considers her to be among a number of Americans who have “wrongfully detained“Russia’s, used as a bargaining chip in the increasingly hostile relationship between Moscow and Washington. The Biden administration has provided a prisoner swap Griner, but Russian officials said it was too early to discuss a settlement while her case was underway.

Now that the trial is over, Mr. Biden faces a tough choice between holding on to the offer in exchange for Ms. Griner and another American, Paul N. Whelan, or softening the offer somehow. , with either position subject to domestic criticism.

The Kremlin, meanwhile, can use them as leverage, with no incentive to settle cases quickly. Her supporters, voiced horror at the verdict and the verdictare calling on the president to do something, while the administration is wary of giving in to Russian tactics that it has all but labeled as blackmail.

“My administration will continue to work tirelessly and pursue every avenue possible to get Brittney and Paul Whelan home safely as soon as possible,” Biden said in a statement following the ruling.

Miss Griner, 31, one of her biggest global sports stars, sat almost emotionless, her eyes somber, leaning her long frame toward the bars of the defendant’s box in a cramped courtroom in suburb of Moscow to hear the words of judge Anna S. Sotnikova, which were quietly translated for her. She has pleaded guilty and Faith is everything but sure in Russian courts, so the verdict is an foregone conclusion; the real question is about sentencing.

The answer is brutal. The near maximum sentence of 10 years for her attempt to smuggle narcotics into the country, based on two vape boxes containing hash oil found in Ms Griner’s luggage upon her arrival in February, one last week when the Russian President, Vladimir V. Putin, sent his forces across the border into Ukraine.

She and her legal team had hoped for a more lenient punishment based on her plea, her statement that she had no intention of bringing the warhead to Russia, and proof that she had lawfully used it. this substance in the United States for pain relief.

“I honestly made a mistake, and I hope your judgment that it doesn’t end my life here,” she said before sentencing.

She told the court that while she took responsibility for her actions, “I did not intend to violate Russian law.” She said that after recovering from a Covid battle, she rushed to pack up to join again the Russian team she plays for the WNBA out of seasonand accidentally left the toner cartridge in her luggage.

“I know that people are constantly talking about politics and politics,” she added, “but I hope that is far from that courtroom.”

Ms Griner’s defense team called the ruling “completely unreasonable”, said the court had “completely ignored all evidence in defense, and most importantly, a plea of ​​guilty”, and stated will appeal. Elizabeth Rood, deputy head of the mission at the US Embassy in Moscow, attended the trial and called the outcome “a false justice”.

Russian officials insist that Griner’s case is simply a functioning justice system, with no political implications – a claim that his American counterparts and many Western analysts dismiss as unreasonable.

William Pomeranz, a Russia expert and acting director of the Kennan Institute, a research group in Washington, noted that Ms. Griner was convicted not to a prison but to a crime colonytends to mean a farther location – many places in Siberia – and harsher conditions.

“She will probably go to a penal colony in the middle of Russia where she won’t know anyone,” he added. “They won’t be able to visit. Penalties for colonies can sometimes be very severe. It would be a tremendous test of her mental state if she ended up going to a penalty area. “

The United States has very few options, he said. “It will just depend on the Russians and how quickly they want to make a deal.”

Basketball players, men and women, and basketball executives took to social media to voice their support for Griner and grieve at the verdict. Ms Griner’s team, Phoenix Mercury, said in a statement: “We are still heartbroken for her, as we have done every day for almost six months. We remain grateful and believe in the civil servants who are working every day to return her to her family and us.”

With Russia’s gratuitous invasion of Ukraine and the wanton destruction it has caused, relations between Washington and Moscow have become more confrontational and acrimonious than in previous decades. The United States has encouraged the West to send weapons and other aid to Ukraine, while punishing Moscow with economic sanctions, looking for opportunities to increase pressure.

The two sides have exchanged prisoners before, most recently in April, when Russia released them Trevor R. Reed, an American who asserted what his family said was a bogus assault allegation in exchange for a Russian pilot convicted in the United States of cocaine trafficking. But rarely does the proposed swap happen amid such tension, or involve anyone as prominent as Mrs. Griner.

In a sign that Griner’s fate was among the topics discussed by Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, last Friday in the first face-to-face conversation ever told. from before the invasion. .

The Biden administration has offer to exchange Mrs. Griner and Mr. Whelan Because Viktor Bout, who was serving a 25-year prison sentence in 2011 on a federal charge of conspiring to sell weapons to people posing as terrorists with the intent to kill Americans. Mr Whelan, detained in Russia since 2018, was found guilty of espionage and sentenced to 16 years.

The White House said on Monday that Russia had issued an unspecified “bad faith” counter-action, which US officials said they did not take seriously.

John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, told reporters on Thursday, “I don’t think it would be helpful for Brittney or Paul for us to talk more publicly about our position in the negotiations and what the president may or may not be willing to do.”

“Conversations are happening at various levels,” he added.

If Mr. Biden sticks to his original offer, he could face charges of not doing enough.

Mrs. Griner, wife, Cherelle Grinerand other supporters have created a public campaign to pressure the president to release her. Advocates worry about her treatment in a country where anti-American and anti-gay vitriol is ingrained in popular opinion and official propaganda. The image of a distressed Mrs. Griner being led, handcuffed, in and out of court, towering over her armed bodyguards, has become widespread in the US and international media. .

The administration could have made a more attractive offer, but American officials have worried that the prisoner deals could encourage hostile foreign governments to arrest Americans on false charges. in exchange for concessions such as the release of their wrongdoers. Some Republicans have complained that Mr. Biden’s current offer creates such an impetus.

With a 6-foot-9 center, Ms. Griner won the university’s national championship with Baylor in 2012, a WNBA Championship with Mercury in 2014, an Olympic gold medal with Team USA at the 2016 and 2020 games, and four EuroLeague championships with Russian team UMMC Yekaterinburg. Like many players in the WNBA, where wages are much lower More than in the NBA, Ms. Griner – who also played a season for a professional team in China – has played abroad to supplement her income.

Report contributed by Michael Crowley, Jonathan Abrams and Tania Ganguli.



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