Jailed US basketball star’s Russian staff testified in court docket to Griner’s good character and talents, lawyer says.
A Russian basketball membership director and staff captain have testified on behalf of jailed US basketball star Brittney Griner, because the two-time Olympic gold medalist made her third look in a Russian court docket on medication fees.
Defence lawyer Maria Blagovolina mentioned UMMC Ekaterinburg membership boss Maxim Ryabkov had testified to Griner’s good character in the course of the listening to on Thursday, which was closed to reporters.
She mentioned Ryabkov instructed the court docket of Griner’s “excellent talents as a participant and private contribution to strengthening staff spirit”.
“It’s the primary time we noticed our basketball participant. She appears good,” Ryabkov additionally instructed reporters within the city of Khimki, on the outskirts of Moscow, the place the trial is being held. “Our goal was to indicate what a giant position she performed within the membership, in Russian basketball on the whole.”
Griner final week pleaded responsible to drug possession and smuggling, however mentioned she had no intention of committing a criminal offense.
The Ladies’s Nationwide Basketball Affiliation (WNBA) All-Star centre was detained on February 17 at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport after vape canisters with hashish oil allegedly have been present in her baggage.
She was returning to Russia to play for UMMC Ekaterinburg, a staff within the Russian Premier League, earlier than the US season resumed, a standard follow for gamers, who can earn a lot greater salaries in overseas leagues than on home groups.
Griner faces as much as 10 years in jail if convicted.
UMMC Ekaterinburg captain Yevgenia Belyakova additionally testified in Griner’s defence on Thursday.
“We very a lot miss her, her power,” Belyakova instructed reporters, including that she needed to “stand by [Griner] in these moments” and hoped that the “case shall be over”.
Griner’s incarceration got here at a time of heightened tensions between Russia and the US over the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and US President Joe Biden’s administration has mentioned she is being “wrongfully detained”. Moscow has denied any political aspect to the case.
Amid ideas Griner may very well be exchanged for a Russian citizen jailed within the US, a Russian deputy overseas minister mentioned final week that the “hype” surrounding her case was not useful.
The Biden administration has beforehand mentioned it's working to convey Griner and one other American, Michigan company safety govt Paul Whelan, house from Russia, and that their instances stay priorities.
Earlier this month, Griner appealed on to Biden in a letter, asking him to do the whole lot in his energy to safe her return to the US. “I nonetheless have a lot good to do with my freedom which you could assist restore,” she wrote.
“I miss my spouse! I miss my household! I miss my teammates! It kills me to know they're struggling a lot proper now. I'm grateful for no matter you are able to do at this second to get me house.”
In the meantime, Blagovolina mentioned the defence was happy with the most recent court docket session on Thursday.
“It was an especially emotional day for Brittney, who was touched by the looks of the membership director, head doctor and her teammate, who gave an especially optimistic description of our shopper each personally and professionally,” she instructed the Reuters information company.
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