{"id":1543436,"date":"2022-07-07T17:21:16","date_gmt":"2022-07-07T21:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1543436"},"modified":"2022-07-07T17:21:27","modified_gmt":"2022-07-07T21:21:27","slug":"u-s-basketball-star-griner-admits-russian-drugs-charge-but-denies-intent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/u-s-basketball-star-griner-admits-russian-drugs-charge-but-denies-intent\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. basketball star Griner admits Russian drugs charge but denies intent"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fu-s-basketball-star-griner-admits-russian-drugs-charge-but-denies-intent%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1543436&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>KHIMKI, Russia (Reuters) -U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner pleaded guilty to a drugs charge in a Russian court on Thursday but denied she had intentionally broken the law.<\/p>\n<p>Griner was speaking at the second hearing of her trial on a narcotics charge that carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, days after she urged U.S. President Joe Biden to secure her release.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019d like to plead guilty, your honour. But there was no intent. I didn\u2019t want to break the law,\u201d Griner said, speaking quietly in English which was then translated into Russian for the court.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019d like to give my testimony later. I need time to prepare,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>The next court hearing was scheduled for July 14.<\/p>\n<p>Griner\u2019s lawyers told reporters they were hoping for the most lenient sentencing possible, taking into account \u201cthe nature of her case, the insignificant amount of the substance and BG\u2019s personality and history of positive contributions to global and Russian sport.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe, as her defense, explained to her the possible consequences. Brittney stressed that she committed the crime out of carelessness, getting ready to board a plane to Russia in a hurry, not intending to break Russian law,\u201d said Griner\u2019s attorney, Maria Blagovolina, a partner at Rybalkin, Gortsunyan, Dyakin and Partners law firm.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe certainly hope this circumstance, in combination with the defence evidence, will be taken into account when passing the sentence, and it will be mild.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Griner\u2019s legal team said it expected the trial to conclude around the beginning of August: \u201cBrittney sets an example of being brave.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medallist, was detained in February at Moscow\u2019s Sheremetyevo airport with vape cartridges containing hashish oil, which is illegal in Russia, and has been kept in custody since.<\/p>\n<p>The WNBA\u2019s players association released a statement reiterating its support for the eight-time All-Star. <\/p>\n<p>Griner will be recognised as an honorary starter at this weekend\u2019s WNBA All-Star Game.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe WNBA continues to work diligently with the U.S. State Department, the White House, and other allies in and outside government to get Brittney home safely and as soon as possible,\u201d said WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert.<\/p>\n<p>The White House said Griner\u2019s guilty plea would have no  impact on U.S. negotiations to bring her home.<\/p>\n<p>In a handwritten note, Griner appealed to Biden directly earlier this week to step up U.S. efforts to bring her home.         <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI realize you are dealing with so much, but please don\u2019t forget about me and the other American detainees\u2026\u201d Griner wrote. \u201cPlease do all you can to bring us home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Biden spoke to Griner\u2019s wife on Wednesday, telling her he was working to have the basketball star released \u201cas soon as possible\u201d, the White House said. <\/p>\n<p>Officials from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow attended Griner\u2019s trial and delivered a letter to her from Biden, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will not relent until Brittney, Paul Whelan and all other wrongfully detained Americans are reunited with their loved ones,\u201d he tweeted, referring to former U.S. Marine Whelan who has been imprisoned in Russia since 2018 on espionage charges.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018BARGAINING CHIP\u2019<\/p>\n<p>U.S. officials and many athletes have called for the release of Griner \u2013 or \u201cBG\u201d as she is known to basketball fans \u2013 who they say has been wrongfully detained.<\/p>\n<p>Her case has prompted concerns that Moscow could use it as leverage to negotiate the release of a high-profile Russian citizen in U.S. custody.<\/p>\n<p>Griner, a centre for the Phoenix Mercury in the Women\u2019s National Basketball Association, had played for UMMC Ekaterinburg in the Russian Women\u2019s Basketball Premier League to boost her income during the WNBA off-season, like several other U.S. players.<\/p>\n<p>Russian authorities say there is no basis to consider Griner\u2019s detention illegal and that the case against her is not political despite Moscow\u2019s fraught relations with the United States over the Russian military intervention in Ukraine. <\/p>\n<p>Moscow\u2019s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Thursday that it was difficult to exchange prisoners with the United States and suggested Washington stop talking about the fate of Griner.<\/p>\n<p>Asked about Ryabkov\u2019s remarks, the State Department said it would not comment on speculation. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cUsing the practice of wrongful detention as a bargaining chip represents a threat to the safety of everyone traveling, working and living abroad. The United States opposes this practice everywhere,\u201d a State Department spokesperson said.<\/p>\n<p>The Russian foreign ministry has said Griner could appeal her sentence or apply for clemency once a verdict has been delivered.<\/p>\n<p> (Reporting by ReutersAdditional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Amy TenneryEditing by Guy Faulconbridge, Frances Kerry and Howard Goller)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oann.com\/u-s-basketball-star-griner\/u-s-basketball-player-brittney-griners-trial-in-khimki\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI660MQ-VIEWIMAGE.jpg\" alt=\"tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI660MQ-VIEWIMAGE\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KHIMKI, Russia (Reuters) -U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner pleaded guilty to a drugs charge in a Russian court on Thursday but denied she had intentionally broken the law. Griner was<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":287,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1543436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1543436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/287"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1543436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1543436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1543436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1543436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1543436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}