Russia: American basketball player Brittney Griner, imprisoned in Moscow, pleads guilty

WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner is escorted to a courtroom in Khimki, near Moscow, Russia, Thursday, July 7, 2022. AP - Alexander Zemlianichenko

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American basketball player Brittney Griner, currently detained in Russia and accused of "drug trafficking", decided to plead guilty on Thursday July 7 during the second day of her trial near Moscow.

Cannabis oil was found in his luggage when he arrived to play in Russia last February.

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With our correspondent in Moscow,

The women's basketball star briefly appeared Thursday, in handcuffs and a red sweater over her shoulders, in front of the Khimki court in the suburbs of Moscow.

She therefore did not hesitate to plead guilty, specifying in the process that she was unaware of the risk incurred and that she had never “ 

 ”.

The cannabis electronic cigarette cartridges that Brittney Griner was carrying are authorized in the United States but illegal in Russia, where she now faces ten years in prison.

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Towards an exchange of prisoners?

The strategy of pleading guilty was in any case undoubtedly developed with his Russian lawyer Alexander Boikov, to ask for leniency from the court.

Several observers in Moscow also point to the hypothesis of an exchange of prisoners, in particular around the Russian arms trafficker

, imprisoned for 25 years in the United States.

But on Thursday, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said it was premature to talk about an exchange before the verdict - in a country where the conviction rate is 99.5%.

Ryabkov took the opportunity to also criticize the American agitation on this issue and brush aside the accusation made against Russia of “ 

 ” Griner.

With Russian-American relations at rock bottom amid the war in Ukraine, it will no doubt be very difficult to get Brittney Griner out of Russia.

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