MOSCOW: A Russian court has upheld the nine-year prison sentence handed to American basketball star Brittney Griner for drug possession, rejecting her appeal.
Griner, an eight-time all-star center with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was convicted Aug. 4 after police said they found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.
The Moscow region court ruled Tuesday to uphold the sentence. In the ruling the court stated, however, that the time Griner will have to serve in prison will be recalculated with her time in pre-trial detention taken into account. One day in pre-trial detention will be counted as 1.5 days in prison, so the basketball player will have to serve around eight years in prison.
Griner’s February arrest came at a time of heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington, just days before Russia sent troops into Ukraine. At the time, Griner was returning to Russia, where she played during the US league’s offseason.
Griner admitted she had the canisters in her luggage but testified she inadvertently packed them in haste and had no criminal intent. Her defense team presented written statements saying she had been prescribed cannabis to treat pain.
The nine-year sentence was close to the maximum of 10 years, and Griner’s lawyers argued after the conviction that the punishment was excessive. They said in similar cases defendants have received an average sentence of about five years, with about a third of them granted parole.
Before her conviction, the US State Department declared Griner to be “wrongfully detained” — a charge that Russia has sharply rejected.
Reflecting growing pressure on the Biden administration to do more to bring Griner home, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken took the unusual step of revealing publicly in July that Washington had made a “substantial proposal” to get Griner home, along with Paul Whelan, an American serving a 16-year sentence in Russia for espionage.
Blinken didn’t elaborate, but The Associated Press and other news organizations have reported that Washington has offered to exchange Griner and Whelan for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer who is serving a 25-year sentence in the US and once earned the nickname the “merchant of death.”
The White House said it has not yet received a productive response from Russia to the offer.
Russian diplomats have refused to comment on the US proposal and urged Washington to discuss the matter in confidential talks, avoiding public statements.
In September, US President Joe Biden met with Cherelle Griner, the wife of Brittney Griner, as well as the player’s agent, Lindsay Colas. Biden also sat down separately with Elizabeth Whelan, Paul Whelan’s sister.
The White House said after the meetings that the president stressed to the families his “continued commitment to working through all available avenues to bring Brittney and Paul home safely.”
The US and Russia carried out a prisoner swap in April. Moscow released US Marines veteran Trevor Reed in exchange for the US releasing a Russian pilot, Konstantin Yaroshenko, who was convicted in a drug trafficking conspiracy.
Moscow also has pushed for the release of other Russians in US custody.
One of them is Alexander Vinnik, who was accused of laundering billions of dollars through an illicit cryptocurrency exchange. Vinnik was arrested in Greece in 2017 and extradited to the US in August.
Vinnik’s French lawyer, Frederic Belot, told Russian newspaper Izvestia last month that his client hoped to be part of a possible swap.
The newspaper speculated that another possible candidate was Roman Seleznev, the son of a Russian lawmaker. He was sentenced in 2017 to 27 years in prison on charges from a hacking and credit card fraud scheme.
Russian court rejects Brittney Griner’s appeal against 9-year sentence
https://arab.news/6wez4
Russian court rejects Brittney Griner’s appeal against 9-year sentence
- Basketball star was convicted Aug. 4 after police said they found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport
- Griner’s February arrest came at a time of heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington, just days before Russia sent troops into Ukraine
Eala storms to victory over world No. 8 Jasmine Paolini in Dubai
- Filipino favorite claims her first top-10 scalp, beating Italian opponent in front of a raucous crowd at Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium
- Australian Open champion Rybakina returns to her adopted home city and makes light work of Australia’s Kimberly Birrell
DUBAI: Roared on by a rapturous Kabayan-majority crowd, Filipino sensation Alexandra Eala overpowered world No. 8 Jasmine Paolini 6-1, 7-6(5) at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Tuesday night.
Eala, 20, secured her first career win against a top-10 player and set up a last-16 clash with Romanian veteran Sorana Cirstea.
With John Lennon’s “Imagine” playing quietly in the nearby Irish Village pre-match, Eala’s supporters were happy to dream.
Eala is the highest-ranked Filipina in history at world No. 47. With considerable talent, mental strength, and a determination that saw her edge a tiebreak against a vastly more experienced opponent, the girl from Quezon City looks destined to see her dreams fulfilled.
With her right thigh heavily bandaged, Eala showed little early signs of discomfort. Paolini, who enjoyed strong support here during her 2024 title win, seemed to feel the sold-out crowd were not wishing her quite so well this time.
Eala appeared to sense it too, immediately giving her supporters plenty reason to cheer, breaking her opponent twice in quick succession to go 5-1 up before serving out the set to kick-start wild celebrations.
As good as Eala was, Paolini hit seven unforced errors in the opening set, and let her chin sink further into her chest as every error was greeted with cheers.
“I think today I came out on fire,” said Eala. “She’s a great opponent obviously being top 10. To be able to compete with her at this level is a great achievement for me.
“She is an incredible fighter, to be sure, but I was very focused and I was able to maintain that throughout the whole match. Every time the opportunity arose, I tried my best to be brave and go for my ball.”
In the second set, with Eala 5-3 up, a comfortable straight-sets win looked certain. However, the Filipina failed to convert three match points in the ninth game before failing to serve out the contest in the 10th.
Paolini rallied to take the match to 6-5 and even twice had the chance to force a third set but also failed to capitalize. In the resultant tiebreak, Eala upped her level once more to secure a monumental career win.
Cue raucous celebrations both inside the 5,000-capacity stadium and outside in the tennis village, where Filipinos had congregated to watch on beanbags surrounded by the nation’s flags and signs reading “Laban Alex!” (“Fight Alex!”) and “Let’s go Alex!”
“I looked up and there were Filipinos for days,” Eala said, smiling. “It’s really such a blessing to be able to play in these sorts of atmospheres.
“I am really privileged and thankful that I’m able to introduce this new sporting world, women’s tennis, to a new demographic. I think they’re really enjoying it and I hope it will inspire young girls and women of all ages to take up sports.”
Eala will return to center court on Wednesday when she faces Cirstea, who earlier in the day beat Linda Noskova 6-1, 6-4.
“She’s a very experienced player and physically very fit,” said Eala of the Romanian. “I’m excited. Everybody at this stage really wants to continue and I’m not an exception to that.”
Earlier in the evening, another popular figure in Dubai enjoyed strong support. Elena Rybakina, resident in the emirate and taking to the main stage for the first time since winning last month’s Australian Open, looked at ease beating Australian qualifier Kimberly Birrell.
Racing to a 5-0 lead in 20 minutes, the Kazakh, 26, dropped just one point across the first three games and looked imperious as she closed out the opening set 6-1.
Birrell was unable to deal with Rybakina’s powerful serve, and a delicateness at the net that left her opponent stretching and shuttling, but ultimately always coming up short.
“To return well is an important part of the game,” said Rybakina.
“Sometimes I have days when it is really working well for me and some days it is more difficult, it also depends a lot on the opponent. Where I have the best control is my serve because no one is playing to you, it’s your pace.”
The No. 1 seed this week, Rybakina went on another five-game winning run in the second set to open a 5-1 lead. Birrell, more than 90 places below her in the WTA World Rankings, held serve in the seventh, but two-time Grand Slam winner Rybakina served for the match to win 6-1, 6-2.
“I’m happy I stayed solid and won this in straight sets,” the 2022 Wimbledon champion said. “I spend so much time in Dubai that it feels like home.
“A lot of people who work here (at this tournament) always say, ‘Welcome back’ and ‘Welcome home’ so it always feels nice. It’s a really nice atmosphere on the court, and I always get a lot of support, so it’s great to play here. I would love to have a little bit longer here with maybe a day between.”
Rybakina’s next opponent will be lucky loser Antonia Ruzic, who has completed three back-to-back three-set battles to reach the last 16, including Monday’s epic win over British No. 1 Emma Raducanu.
“I don’t know much about her,” said Rybakina of Ruzic. “I have never played against her, so I will need to talk to my team and do the usual routine.”
Two-time Dubai winner Elina Svitolina also progressed to the last 16 and will now face Belinda Bencic, also on Wednesday. Ukrainian Svitolina, champion here in 2017 and 2018, moved through after Dubai-based Paula Badosa retired at the start of the second set having lost the first 4-6.
