Russia: beginning of the trial of American basketball player Brittney Griner, accused of drug trafficking

The world champion and Olympic basketball champion is accused of smuggling drugs into Russia and faces up to ten years in prison.

© Photo taken by УГМК, Wikimedia commons

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

The trial of American basketball player Brittney Griner opened on Friday July 1 in the suburbs of Moscow.

The world champion and Olympic champion is accused of drug smuggling.

She was arrested at the airport when she arrived in Russia in February.

She faces up to ten years in prison.

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With our correspondent in Moscow

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It is in a partial camera, with a limited presence of the media, that the trial of Brittney Griner is held.

Arrived in Russia in February to play there during the American off-season, the troubles of the Phoenix Mercury player began as soon as she got off the plane.

The two-time Olympic champion was arrested at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport for allegedly being in possession of a vaporizer and cannabis-based liquid.

Under Russian law, she faces a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, but US authorities have become involved in the case, saying the player was being unjustly detained at a time of heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington. by the Ukrainian crisis.

Russian justice ordered the continued detention of Brittney Griner until December and according to the representative of the American embassy present at the hearing, her morale is good and she does not complain about her conditions of detention.

According to many observers, this affair could be purely political insofar as Russia and the United States sometimes use arrests to carry out prisoner exchanges.

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