After Biden Failures Brittney Griner Sentenced to 9 yrs Prison by the Russia Lex-icon [law as image, the appearance of justice, the form over the substance of justice via truth and law over humanity]
/From [HERE] U.S. women’s basketball star Brittney Griner on Thursday was convicted of bringing marijuana with criminal intent into Russia last February and sentenced to nine years in prison, an outcome that is expected to clear the way for negotiations over her release between the two countries.
Judge Anna Sotnikova found Ms. Griner guilty of deliberately bringing hashish oil into Russia in mid-February, and the nine-year sentence also included a fine of 1 million rubles, according to Ms. Griner’s legal team.
Ms. Griner’s time served, since February, will be included in her term, the judge said. She will immediately be transferred to a penal colony, the judge said.
“The court found the defendant guilty [of] illegal acquisition, storage, transportation of drugs without the purpose of sale, and … smuggling of narcotic drugs in a significant amount,” the Russia’s state news agency, TASS, cited the judge as saying.
Russian prosecutors had sought a sentence of 9½ years in prison for Ms. Griner, close to the maximum penalty of 10 years for her charges of drug possession and smuggling.
Ms. Griner’s defense team had asked for the court to impose a minimal sentence, and she had made her own emotional plea as well.
“I want to apologize to my teammates, my club, the fans and the city of Ekat for my mistake that I made and the embarrassment that I brought on them,” she said, adding that she also wanted to apologize to her wife, parents, siblings, her Phoenix Mercury teammates and to the WNBA.
“I never meant to hurt anybody, to put in jeopardy the Russian population, I never meant to break any laws here,” Ms. Griner said. “I made an honest mistake and I hope that in your ruling it, that it doesn’t end my life here.”
The charges against Ms. Griner carry a penalty of up to 10 years in prison. Ms. Griner’s defense team asked for the court to impose a minimum sentence, taking into account her role in Russian sports, according to the Russian news agency Interfax, whose correspondent was in the courtroom Thursday.
The best prospects for Ms. Griner’s release have long been thought to hinge on a prisoner exchange between U.S. and Russia, after she is convicted, despite the frosty relations between the two countries. In an unusual move, the U.S. pressed an offer to swap her and former Marine Paul Whelan for arms dealer Viktor Bout even as her trial was still underway. Ms. Griner has been detained since mid-February. [MORE]