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Prosecution demands 9 and half years in colony for US basketball star Griner in drug trial

It is reported that Griner admitted to carrying the oil, but said that she used that for medical purposes and had not been selling drugs

Brittney Griner Anton Novoderzhkin/TASS

Brittney Griner

© Anton Novoderzhkin/TASS

MOSCOW, August 4. /TASS/. Prosecution on Thursday demanded nine years and six months in colony for US basketball player Brittney Griner for drug trafficking, a TASS journalist reported from the courtroom on Thursday.

The prosecutor asked the court to find Griner guilty of large-scale transportation of drugs and to sentence her to nine years and six months in colony and a fine of 1 million rubles ($16.600).

The prosecutor said the court found that neither aggravating nor mitigating circumstances were established and asked to include the time Griner spent at the pre-trial detention center into her prison term. The prosecutor also said 0.702 grams of hashish oil were found in the defendant’s baggage at the airport. Griner admitted to carrying the oil, but said that she used that for medical purposes and had not been selling drugs.

Griner was arrested at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport over suspicions of smuggling hashish oil into Russia. She pleaded guilty, but said she had put the hashish oil into her bag in a hurry and had no criminal intent.

As a member of the US women’s national team, Griner won gold medals at the 2014 and 2018 World Championships, as well as at the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games. Before her arrest, she played for Russia’s UMMC Ekaterinburg team.

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