U.S. Basketball Star Brittney Griner Sentenced To 9 Years In Jail In Russia
deadline.comBrittney Griner, the two-time U.S. Olympic gold medal basketball player and WNBA star, was found guilty Thursday in Russia of drug smuggling and possession and sentenced to nine years in jail.
The news comes six months after Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport while entering the country with cannabis oil in her luggage.Her lawyers said they plan to appeal the ruling.“We are very disappointed by the verdict,” said Griner’s attorneys Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov. “As legal professionals, we believe that the court should be fair to everyone regardless of nationality.
The court completely ignored all the evidence of the defense, and most importantly, the guilty plea. This contradicts the existing legal practice.
Taking into account the amount of the substance (not to mention the defects of the expertise) and the plea, the verdict is absolutely unreasonable.
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