American women’s basketball player convicted of smuggling drugs to Russia, Russian court sentenced him to 9 years in prison and fined him
Overseas Network, August 5th. According to a report by TASS on the 4th, a court in the Moscow region sentenced American basketball star and former U.S. women’s basketball national team player Brittney Griner on charges of smuggling and possession of drugs on the same day. ) 9 years in prison and a fine of 1 million rubles (approximately RMB 110,000).
On February 17 this year, Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport for trying to smuggle cannabis oil into Russia. She pleaded guilty but said she had hastily put the cannabis oil in the bag without criminal intent. Russian prosecutors had previously demanded that Griner be sentenced to nine years and six months in prison and a fine of 1 million rubles. Griner’s guilty plea was seen as a mitigating factor, so the court sentenced slightly less than the prosecution’s sentencing recommendation.
A member of the U.S. women’s blue national team, Griner won gold medals at the 2014 and 2018 World Championships and the 2016 and 2020 Olympics. Before her arrest, she was playing for Russia’s UMMC Yekaterinburg team.
