A court in the Russian city of Khimki ruled today to sentence the American basketball player Brittney Griner to nine years in prison for smuggling cannabis oil. In the court session, the prosecutor of the case pointed out that during the investigation no aggravating or mitigating circumstances were established, while specifying that a total of 0.702 grams of the substance were found in the athlete’s luggage, during her arrest at the Sheremetyevo international airport in Moscow on February 17. The details of the trial published by the RT chain indicate that in addition to the prison sentence, the athlete will have to pay a fine of one million rubles (more than 16,500 US dollars). The player pleaded guilty on July 7, although she assured, she did not intend to commit any crime. After this day’s ruling, Griner can object to her sentence or ask for clemency. Meanwhile, Griner’s lawyer, María Blagovólina, pointed out in court that the convicted woman brought the illicit substances to Russia by mistake due to stress due to “the general situation of tension in the world.”
