Russian court jails Griner for nine years; US calls for release
Joe Biden calls the sentence against the WNBA star, who was arrested at a Moscow airport in February, ‘unacceptable’. A Russian court has found US basketball star Brittney Griner guilty of drug smuggling, and sentenced her to nine years in prison in a ruling US President Joe Biden called “unacceptable”. The court “found the defendant guilty” of smuggling and possessing “a significant amount of narcotics”, Judge Anna Sotnikova told a court in the town of Khimki just outside Moscow. The player was also fined one million rubles ($16,300). Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medallist and Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) star, was escorted out of the courtroom in handcuffs by police after the verdict, turning to reporters and saying: “I love my family”. Biden condemned the verdict and reiterated calls for the 31-year-old’s release. “My administration will continue to work tirelessly and pursue every possible avenue to bring Brittney and Paul Whelan home safely as soon as pos...