Sports
U.S. Olympian Brittney Griner could spend 5 years in Russian labor camp, expert says
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U.S. Olympic gold medalist and WNBA champion Brittney Griner may withstand 5 years in a Russian labor camp after she was arrested within the nation final month, an professional stated.
Griner, a 31-year-old Phoenix Mercury basketball star, has not been seen since she was arrested in Russia final month after Russian officers allegedly discovered vape cartridges in her baggage and accused her of trying to smuggle medicine into the nation.
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Russian regulation professional Peter Maggs of the College of Illinois School of Legislation predicted that her pending authorized case may lead to a 5- to 10-year jail sentence, which may additionally embrace time spent at a labor camp, or a whole dismissal and exportation from the nation.
“You are speaking about 5 years, not jail time, however a labor camp,” he stated. “One factor I discover a little bit worrisome is that this extension of her preliminary holding from two months to 3 months, as a result of you must go to the next authority to get it lengthened.”
Brittney Griner #15 of Group United States reacts throughout the first half of the Ladies’s Basketball closing recreation between Group United States and Group Japan on day sixteen of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic video games at Saitama Tremendous Area on August 08, 2021, in Saitama, Japan.
(Kevin C. Cox/Getty Pictures)
“It’s unlawful to carry all types of medication into the nation [Russia], together with hashish oil,” Maggs stated.
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The regulation professor additionally speculated that Griner may very well be fully harmless of the accusations in opposition to her as Russian authorities are recognized to plant medicine on individuals to arrest them beneath false pretenses “if the regime wished to get them in bother.”
Brittney Griner is pictured.
(Russian State TV)
“We don’t know what actually occurred,” he added.
The WNBA launched an announcement that known as the worldwide arrest “extraordinarily troublesome” however added they have been working carefully with the U.S. authorities to get Griner returned safely.
FILE – Phoenix Mercury middle Brittney Griner (42) seems to be to move as Chicago Sky middle Candace Parker defends throughout the first half of recreation 1 of the WNBA basketball Finals, Sunday, Oct. 10, 2021, in Phoenix.
(AP Photograph/Ralph Freso, File)
“This continues to be a posh scenario that’s extraordinarily troublesome for Brittney, her household, and all who’re hoping for a swift decision,” the assertion stated, in accordance with Reuters. “Our primary precedence stays her secure return.”
The Related Press contributed to this report.