Today WNBA All Star Brittney Griner was sentenced by Russian court to 9 years in prison for drug possession. Judge Anna Sotnikova said the time Griner has served in custody since her arrest in February would count toward the sentence.
A prisoner swap that U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken proposed to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Under the proposed deal, Griner and Paul Whelan, an American imprisoned in Russia on an espionage conviction, would go free.
Brittney Griner was arrested in Russia on February 17th. for having vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage. After 5 months of imprisonment she finally seen her day in court. On July 7th, Brittney Griner pleaded guilty to bringing hashish oil into Russia. Telling the judge that she had done so “inadvertently” while asking the court for mercy.
The move is not expected to end her trial in Khimki, Russia, anytime soon. Even with a guilty plea in Russian criminal courts, the judge will continue to read the full case file into the record, and it could still go on for weeks or months.
