Maria Blagovolina, the lawyer of US basketball player Brittney Griner, who was sentenced to 9 years in prison for drug possession in Russia, announced that they had filed an appeal.
Referring to Maria Blagovolina’s statements, news agencies in Russia reported that the appeal was officially made, but did not give details on the reasoning.
Blagovolina, the lawyer of the famous basketball player, who won two Olympic championships with the USA national team, and his legal adviser, Alexander Boykov, stated in a statement they made after the conviction on 4 August that “the sentence is severe” and evaluated that in such cases, a 5-year prison sentence with a three-year suspended in Russia is given. .
The Himki court in Russia’s Moscow region sentenced Griner to 9 years in prison and a fine of 1 million rubles (approximately $16,130), who was caught with drugs and detained in February.
It was alleged that Russia and the United States were holding talks on the exchange of various detainees, including Griner.
In a statement on July 27, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that they had prepared an important proposal to Moscow for the extradition of US Paul Whelan, who was imprisoned in Russia, as well as Griner.
US President Joe Biden also called on Russia to release Griner.
Media outlets announced that the Biden administration offered Moscow the exchange of the famous arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was serving a 25-year prison sentence in the country, for the exchange of these two Americans. A Russian diplomat confirmed that Moscow-Washington talks were held with Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is imprisoned in the US and known as the “death dealer”, for the exchange of Griner.
Referring to the Russian diplomats, Associated Press stated that the negotiations between the parties concerned are continuing.
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