The drug trafficking case against American women’s basketball star Brittney Griner opened behind closed doors in Russia on Friday, with strong political overtones given the scale of the Russian-American animosity.
“The investigation has begun,” Polina Vodovsova, a spokeswoman for the court in Kimchi, a suburb of Moscow, told reporters.
The closed session, with a limited media presence in the courtroom, was concluded “at the request of the defense, at the request of Greener.”
The Phoenix Mercury player came to Russia in February to play in the US off-season, which is a common practice for basketball players who sometimes earn more overseas than at home.
It was only when he arrived at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport that he was arrested on charges of possessing liquid to a vapor and cannabis base, according to charges leveled at him by the double Olympic gold medalist (2016, 2020).
She faces up to 10 years in prison.
U.S. officials initially had a low profile in his case, which was not disclosed to the public until March 5.
In the wake of the continuing deterioration of Russian-US relations, especially in the wake of the conflict in Ukraine, top officials in Washington have taken up the matter, declaring that Russia has “unjustly” detained the 20. 31-year-old 2m03 star.
His case is in the hands of the US special envoy for hostages.
In the eyes of Russian legal law in similar cases, the young woman should expect a harsher sentence and serve in the Russian penal colony.
Americans and Russians accuse each other of detaining their respective nationals for political purposes. There have been many prisoner exchanges in the past.
In April, former U.S. Marine Trevor Reid, who was sentenced to nine years in prison in Russia for violence, was transferred to Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who has been imprisoned in the United States since 2010 for drug trafficking.
Other exchanges of this kind will be the subject of conversation.
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