Russian justice on Tuesday rejected the appeal of American basketball player Brittney Griner, sentenced in Russia to nine years in prison for cannabis trafficking and who asked for her “traumatic” sentence to be reduced, against a backdrop of very strong tensions between Moscow and Washington.
“President (Joe) Biden has been very clear that Brittney must be released immediately,” reacted White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, regretting that she continues to be “wrongly imprisoned , under unacceptable circumstances, after having to endure yet another bogus legal proceeding today.”
The Krasnogorsk court in the Moscow region, which heard the appeal, decided to “leave unchanged” the verdict handed down last August against the American basketball star, announced judge Elena Vorontsova.
Only one relaxation compared to the initial sentence: each day spent in detention before her conviction by Brittney Griner, arrested in February and imprisoned since, will be counted as a day and a half and deducted from the total of the sentence to be served.
“I really hope that the court will adjust this verdict because it has been very, very stressful and very traumatic for my mental and psychological state,” the American basketball star, who is participating in the hearing by videoconference, said shortly before. , according to an AFP journalist.
Wearing a red and black checkered shirt, Brittney Griner, 32, had expressed her sorrow at being away from her family and not being able to communicate with her.
She said she “did not understand” such a severe judgment against her “while people are being inflicted much less than me for more serious crimes”.
Under “the eyes of the whole world”
One of his lawyers, Alexander Boïkov, had for his part asked the court to “consider an acquittal because of the dismissal”.
“The eyes of the whole world are on this case,” said Mr Boïkov.
“The cruelty of this judgment strikes not only the participants in the trial, but also people around the world,” he said.
Brittney Griner was arrested in the Russian capital in possession of a vaporizer containing cannabis-based liquid.
She admitted to having possessed this substance, however claiming to have brought it to Russia inadvertently and to use it legally in the United States as a painkiller.
She had gone to Russia to play in the U.S. offseason, a common practice for WNBA female basketball players who often make a better living abroad than in the United States.
The case of this woman, who was sentenced last August to nine years in prison for cannabis trafficking, has since taken on geopolitical significance in the context of the crisis between Moscow and Washington linked to the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
Other American citizens are currently incarcerated in Russia and the United States also wants to secure their release.
Washington has repeatedly said it has made a “substantial offer” to release two Americans imprisoned in Russia, Brittney Griner and a former US soldier, Paul Whelan.
According to Russian diplomatic sources, a possible exchange of prisoners could notably concern Brittney Griner and a Russian arms trafficker detained in the United States, Viktor Bout.
Mr. Bout was arrested in Thailand in 2008 and is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence in the United States.