Brittney Griner's Nine-Year Penal Colony Sentence Upheld by Russian Court

[babylonsister]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/brittney-griners-nine-year-penal-colony-sentence-upheld-by-russian-court?ref=home

Brittney Griner’s Nine-Year Penal Colony Sentence Upheld by Russian Court
DENIED
Dan Ladden-Hall
News Correspondent
Published Oct. 25, 2022 8:52AM ET

A Russian court on Tuesday upheld the sentence handed down to American basketball star Brittney Griner over drug smuggling charges. The 32-year-old WNBA athlete now faces nine years in a penal colony unless a higher court overturns the three Moscow judges’ ruling, or U.S. authorities are able to negotiate a deal for her release. At the hearing Tuesday, Griner said she was sorry for her “mistake,” adding: “I did not intend to do this.” Her defense attorney, Alexander Boykov, also described the sentence as not just severe but “cruel,” according to reports. Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport in February after vape cartridges containing cannabis oil were found in her possession.

Read it at New York Times

[hlthe2b]

1. Damn.

a political pawn. May others take note. The money is not worth it.

As one who worked on short-term stints as a professional in some very dangerous countries (especially for women), I realized the state department could only do so much. While the experiences were incomparable ultimately, I NEVER moved an inch from what would be acceptable behavior in those countries. I saw a greater good in the work I did there or I would not have gone.

I am tremendously hopeful we can do something for Griner. But, the timing could not have been/be worse. May she stay strong and not lose hope.

[Jilly_in_VA]

2. Not unexpected

You knew it was political to start with.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. While I am wholly sympathetic, this situation was predictable.

Who believed that the U.S. could have a good will, non-political sports event with a country with which we are engaged in a proxy war?

Even if Griner didn't have those purported substances, I would have expected them to have been planted in her belongings by Russia.

She was a prisoner as soon as she stepped off that plane.

I can only hope that she isn't mistreated, tortured, starved, or worse during her prison term.

[Rural_Progressive]

4. Whoever advised her this was a good idea

gave her really bad advise.

[ProfessorGAC]

5. Totally Unsurprising

Everything is corrupt there. I see no reasons prosecutors & judges would be any different.

[Hortensis]

6. Very predictable. The courts won't reverse Putin's instruction,

but at some point he'll likely trade her for something we can give. As it turns out it was a bad time to go there, but most athletes there are getting good money, not prison. I strongly suspect her being a black lesbian was a factor in targeting her. It'd play to the famous conservatism of most Russians.

Hopefully, as an athlete she'll be able to handle whatever the conditions are in the penal colony if she isn't sprung before she gets there.