The American basketball player arrested in Russia pleaded guilty to drug possession: she could be sentenced to 10 years in prison

American basketball player Brittney Griner, detained in Russia accused of drug possession and smugglingHe pleaded guilty to a Moscow court on Thursday.

The next hearing of the trial, where a sentence is expected that could be up to 10 years of imprisonmentwill be held on July 14th

The athlete, who spoke through a translator during the Khimki court session, admitted all chargesalthough he indicated he did not intend to commit a crime, according to the Interfax agency.

Griner, 31, explained it the cannabis oil ended up in her luggage for the haste with which he packed his bags to travel to Russia.

At Thursday’s hearing, the court collected statements from two prosecution witnesses that participated in the search of assets of the athlete at the Russian customs.

Joe Biden’s response to Brittney Griner’s letter

The Chargé d’affaires of the American Embassy in Russia, Elizabeth Rood, handed the athlete a letter from the American presidentJoe Biden, as he told the press.

“I was able to speak to Ms. Griner in the classroom. She told me that she eats well, has the ability to read books and assured me that under the circumstances, everything is fine for her. Most importantly, I was able to deliver a letter from President Biden to Mrs. Griner e she managed to read that letter“, he has declared.

The president of the United States spoke on the phone with Griner’s family on Wednesday after receiving numerous reviews for not having responded earlier to a letter that the athlete sent him on Monday.

According to the White House, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke on the phone with Griner’s wife, Cherelle, to reassure her that they are working to free his wife as soon as possible, as well as other Americans arrested “unfairly” in Russia.

Biden also read Cherelle the draft letter she wrote to Griner.

Cross-statements between Washington and Moscow

For its part, Moscow accused Washington of creating media noise around this case and stressed that this does not help the negotiations between the two countries for a prisoner exchange.

“We have established negotiation mechanisms on these issues. We understand the attempts by the United States to foment this situation, to make noise in the public space, but they do not help the practical solution of this question,” said the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister. , Sergei Ryabkov.

This was recalled by the Russian high diplomatic representative the trial against Griner has not ended and until there is a verdict from a court, “there is no formal basis” to talk about the next steps.

According to Riabkov, the insistence with which the United States describes its citizens convicted or prosecuted in Russia as “detainees” “reflects Washington’s lack of desire to accept reality adequately.”

“It is quite difficult to engage in detailed negotiation of any kind of exchange” between prisoners of both countries in the context of so many accusations, media and network noise created by the United States.

The Russian deputy foreign minister stressed that what will really help Griner will not be the communications of the US president, Joe Biden, with his relatives “but serious attention from the United States. signals they receive from Russia, from Moscowthrough specialized channels.

The case of Brittney Griner

The 31-year-old athlete, double world and Olympic champion with her country, was arrested in February at Moscow’s Sheremetvo airport after customs officials found cannabis oil in her personal belongings.

Subsequently, the basketball player was charged with drug possession and smuggling, and has been in pre-trial detention ever since.

Previously, it was learned that Russia and the United States are negotiating the player exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Butknown as the “death merchant” and serving a sentence in an American prison.

But he is serving 25 years in prison, among other things, for conspiring to kill US citizens and for selling weapons to Colombia’s former FARC guerrilla organization.

Recently, Russia and the United States exchanged the American student Trevor Reed, sentenced to nine years in prison for resisting arrest, by Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, sentenced in the US to 20 years for drug dealing.

Source: EFE