US basketball player Greiner appeals sentence in Russia

american basketball player Brittney Griner On August 15, he appealed the previous decision – a court in Khimki, near Moscow, found him guilty of drug trafficking and sentenced him to nine years in prison.

Greiner was detained in the Moscow region on February 17 this year. Law enforcement announced the detention of an American woman after the discovery of poppy oil in e-cigarette cartridges.

Greiner was found guilty of drug possession on July 7 during a possible trade deal. He testified in court 20 days later, stating that he accidentally smuggled cannabis into the territory of the Russian Federation.

Candidates for the swap were Viktor Bout, who is serving a sentence in an American prison for arms trafficking, as well as former American soldier Paul Whelan, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020 for spying for Russia. The Russian side also insists on inclusion on the exchange list of Russian Vadim Krasikov, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in Germany in 2021 for the murder of former Chechen field commander Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in Berlin.

Note that Greiner is a two-time Olympic champion. In the Russian Federation, he has been a member of the UMMC Yekaterinburg team since 2016.