A Russian court set WNBA player Brittney Griner’s appeal date for later this month.
The basketball superstar, who was convicted on Aug. 4 after pleading guilty to drug charges for bringing vape cartridges in her luggage through a Moscow airport, will be back in court on Oct. 25. During her trial, she admitted to bringing the cartridges, which she noted were prescribed, though she said it was an accident.She was sentenced to nine years in prison, close to the maximum she faced of a 10-year sentence.
Facing growing public pressure to get Griner back, the department said in July that Washington had made a “substantial proposal” to get her and Paul Whelan, another American the government considers wrongfully detained, home. While the administration has declined to provide specifics of the offer, it’s been widely reported that it included the release of convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout, who has been dubbed the"Merchant of Death" because he has been accused of selling arms to sanctioned human rights abusers in various African nations.
National Security Council coordinator John Kirby told reporters in mid-September that Russia has “not responded to our offer,” which he described as a “serious” one, adding, “The discussions are ongoing.
The State Department has had a string of successes in recent months in negotiating the release of hostages held by Venezuela, Russia, and the Taliban. It secured the release of the seven American hostages held in Venezuela this weekend, negotiated the return of Mark Frerichs, who had been held by the Taliban for nearly two years, last month, and got Trevor Reed home from Russia in the spring.
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