RUSSIA-August 4, 2022–today Brittney Griner was convicted and sentenced to 9 years in prison in her drug case. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that the “conviction and sentencing by a Russian court of U.S. citizen Brittney Griner to nine years in prison further compounds the injustice of her wrongful detention.”
“This step puts a spotlight on our significant concerns with Russia’s legal system and the Russian government’s use of wrongful detentions to advance its own agenda, using individuals as political pawns,” added Blinken.
Blinken said, nothing about today’s decision changes our determination that Brittney Griner is wrongfully detained, and we will continue working to bring Brittney and fellow wrongfully detained U.S. citizen Paul Whelan home. This is an absolute priority of mine and the Department’s.”
“A top White House official slammed Russia in a CNN interview Saturday for attempting to tack on an additional convict — a murderer who was tried, sentenced, and imprisoned in Germany — to the United States’ proposed prisoner exchange of Griner and Whelan for notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout.”
“Holding two American citizens hostage in exchange for an assassin in a third-party country is not a serious counteroffer,” Kirby said, adding: “We urge Russia to take [our] offer seriously.”
Griner, has been detained in Russia since February 17th. She is an eight-time WNBA All-Star, who was charged with drug possession and moved to a Russian jail shortly after customs agents at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport searched her luggage and found vape cartridges containing hashish oil.
Blinken said that the United States will continue “to press for fair and transparent treatment for all U.S. citizen detainees in Russia.”
“Russia, and any country engaging in wrongful detention, represents a threat to the safety of everyone traveling, working, and living abroad. The United States opposes this practice everywhere,” said Blinken.
The White House has offered to release Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout to bring the basketball superstar and ex-Marine back to the States. The dealer has served more than 10 years of his 25-year sentence for conspiring to provide “material support” to a terrorist organization, promising to supply them with anti-aircraft missiles, and engaging in a plot to kill Americans and US officials.
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Source: US Secretary of State Blinken contributed to the article.
