A Russian courtroom on Monday set Oct. 25 because the date for American basketball star Brittney Griner's enchantment in opposition to her nine-year jail sentence for drug possession.
Griner, an eight-time all-star middle with the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury and a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was convicted Aug. 4 after police mentioned they discovered vape canisters containing hashish oil in her baggage at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport.
The Moscow area courtroom mentioned it should hear her enchantment.
Griner admitted that she had the canisters in her baggage, however testified that she had inadvertently packed them in haste and that she had no felony intent. Her protection workforce introduced written statements that she had been prescribed hashish to deal with ache.
Her February arrest got here at a time of heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington, simply days earlier than Russia despatched troops into Ukraine. On the time, Griner, acknowledged as one of many biggest gamers in WNBA historical past, was returning to Russia, the place she performed in the course of the U.S. league's offseason.
The nine-year sentence was near the utmost of 10 years, and Griner's attorneys argued after the conviction that the punishment was extreme. They mentioned in comparable instances defendants have obtained a median sentence of about 5 years, with a few third of them granted parole.
Earlier than her conviction, the U.S. State Division declared Griner to be "wrongfully detained" - a cost that Russia has sharply rejected.
Reflecting the rising strain on the Biden administration to do extra to carry Griner residence, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken took the bizarre step of showing publicly in July that Washington had made a "substantial proposal" to get Griner residence, together with Paul Whelan, an American serving a 16-year sentence in Russia for espionage.
Blinken did not elaborate, however The Related Press and different information organizations have reported that Washington has supplied to trade Griner and Whelan for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms vendor who's serving a 25-year sentence within the U.S. and as soon as earned the nickname the "service provider of demise."
The White Home mentioned it has not but obtained a productive response from Russia to the provide.
Russian diplomats have refused to touch upon the U.S. proposal and urged Washington to debate the matter in confidential talks, avoiding public statements.
U.S. President Joe Biden met final month with Cherelle Griner, the spouse of Brittney Griner, in addition to the participant's agent, Lindsay Colas. Biden additionally sat down individually with Elizabeth Whelan, Paul Whelan's sister.
The White Home mentioned after the conferences that the president pressured to the households his "continued dedication to working by means of all accessible avenues to carry Brittney and Paul residence safely."
The Biden administration carried out a prisoner swap in April, with Moscow releasing Marine veteran Trevor Reed in trade for the U.S. releasing a Russian pilot, Konstantin Yaroshenko, convicted in a drug trafficking conspiracy.