The trial’s closing arguments started on Thursday amid worries that she might be used as a pawn in the nation’s conflict with Ukraine.
Russian officials took Griner to the defendant’s cage as he entered the courtroom while he was restrained in handcuffs. She was released from her handcuffs after speaking to her legal counsel and holding up a picture of the Russian team she had played for during the WNBA summer, UMMC Ekaterinburg.
Six months after being detained at a Moscow airport and being charged by Russian prosecutors with trying to smuggle less than 1 gram of cannabis oil in her luggage, 31-year-old Griner is due to appear in court in Khimki. You might spend up to 10 years in jail. The two-time US Olympic basketball champion entered a guilty plea last month.
“The defense hopes the lawsuit will be considered by the court as a mitigating circumstance and not lead to a strict conviction,” her legal team said last month. “Griners is suing in relation to drug charges in what her attorneys said was an attempt to take responsibility and get leniency if she is ultimately found guilty and convicted for the nature of her case, the insignificant amount of the substance and (Griners) personality and history of positive contributions to global and Russian esports.
The prosecution’s case has also been attacked by the defense. At the seventh hearing in her case on Tuesday, a defense expert stated that it was against Russian law to look into the material found in Griner’s vape cartridges.
“The investigation is not thorough in accordance with the law.of the study and does not comply with the norms of the Code of Criminal Procedure,” forensic chemist Dmitry Gladyshev testified during the approximately two-hour session.
