Article author:
Associated Press
Jim Heinz
Moscow (AP) — American basketball star Brittney Griner Nah was tried on Friday, four and a half months after being arrested for possessing cannabis oil when he returned to play for the Russian team in a tense case. .. Relationship between Moscow and Washington.
Phoenix Mercury Center and two US Olympic gold medalists say police are carrying arc canisters in cannabis oil at Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow in February After that, I was arrested. If she is convicted of a large transport of drugs, she can face up to 10 years in prison.
Greener, 31, was handcuffed and taken to a court in Khimki on the outskirts of Moscow, wearing a Jimi Hendrix T-shirt. At a private preliminary hearing on Monday, her detention was extended for another six months to December 20, and the next court was set to July 7.
Less than 1% The percentage of defendants in Russian criminal cases is innocent, and unlike the United States, innocence can be overturned.
Her case is at a very low point in the relationship between Moscow and Washington. Greener was arrested less than a week before Russia sent troops to Ukraine, which exacerbated the already high tensions between the two countries. The United States then imposed drastic sanctions on Moscow, and Russia accused the United States of sending weapons to Ukraine.
Moscow's Chargé d'Affaires to the United States, Elizabeth Ruud, appears in court and she "is doing what she can expect in these difficult situations," Grinner said. Said that he did.
"The Russian Federation has illegally detained Brittney Griner," Ludo said. "The practice of tort is unacceptable wherever it happens and threatens the safety of everyone who travels, works and lives abroad."
She said the US government From the highest level, he said, "We are working hard to safely bring Britney and all illegally detained Americans home."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied on Friday that politics was involved in Grinner's detention and her prosecution.
"The fact is that a well-known athlete was detained in possession of a banned drug containing narcotic substances," Peskoff told reporters. "Given what I said, it can't be a political motivation," he added.
Greener supporters reclassified her as having been torted and transferred her case surveillance to a hostage special presidential envoy until May. It didn't stand out in the hope of her quiet solution. Clerical — Virtually the Chief Negotiator of the US Government.
Grinner's wife, Sherel, urged President Joe Biden to secure her release and called her a "political pawn."
"I'm glad I met her in some of these images, but it was hard. Phoenix Mercury coach Vanessa Nigard said on Monday that their teammate friend was another. Every time I remind myself that I have been illegally imprisoned in the country. " The coach
wanted Biden to "take steps to ensure she returned home."
Greener supporters, like April, brought home Marine veteran Trevor Reed in exchange for a Russian pilot convicted of a drug trafficking plot. Encouraged prisoner exchange.
Russian news media have repeatedly raised speculation that she could be exchanged for the Russian weapons merchant Victor Bowt, who is called the "merchant of death." A plot to kill US citizens and provide assistance to terrorist organizations.
Russia has been excited about the release of Bout for years. However, the major contradiction between the Greener case, which involves possession of an arc cartridge containing cannabis oil, and the global trade in deadly weapons bouts makes such an exchange unpalatable to the United States. There is a possibility.
Others have suggested she could be traded in. Former Marines sentenced to 16 years in prison for spy convictions that the United States has repeatedly described as a setup. And in collaboration with Security Director Paul Wheelan.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken declined to ask when asked at CNN on Sunday if a joint exchange for a match between Greener and Welan was being considered.
"As a general suggestion ... I have no higher priority than ensuring that Americans who are somehow illegally detained around the world return home," he says. I did. But he said, "I can't comment in detail about what we're doing, except to say that this is an absolute priority."
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