She gets to come home and vape more dope while complaining about America, and the trafficker goes free and trafficks more arms that will cost how many lives? Is that really a good trade, Brandon???
shareAt least three US citizens are in Russian prisons. The President should be trying to trade for all three.
share
That is the reason Russia didn't just unceremoniously toss her out of the country. This was a golden opportunity for Russia to embarrass the U.S. in the eyes of the world and release her in a grand gesture of humanity for Christmas (plus some Russian arm traffickers in trade).
This is incorrect.Russia gives similar sentances to americans that aren't celebrities too. They have very strict drug laws for everyone, including their own citizens. 25% of their prison population is simple drug crimes.
share
Her attorney said that the punishment for this crime is usually not as severe as Griner’s sentence.
“So nine years, it’s pretty unusual and it contradicts the existing court practice in Russia,” she said. “That’s why we are really disappointed and very much surprised by this decision of the court.”
her attorney Maria Blagovolina, a partner at Rybalkin Gortsunyan Dyakin and Partners, said to People.
https://conservativebrief.com/sentence-devastated-65245/?utm_source=CB&utm_medium=258
It's very hard to avoid connecting the dots between such a harsh sentence for such a minor crime and the Russians very much wanting to get Vadim Krasikov returned. If that was the Russians intention, then convicting a celebrity would put enormous public pressure on the sitting president. Imprisoning Whelan hasn't gotten Krasikov released.
I don't think her attorney is the best source for an unbiased representation of her situation. Its the attorneys job to get her a light sentance by any means. There are lots of articles discussing the severity of Russian drug laws. Here are 2 cases that don't feature celebrities with similar and worse outcomes for similar offenses by americans. Additionally, this information isn't exactly readily available unless an article was written about it. Imagine how many cases go unreported, particularly if they were russian.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/07/28/marc-fogel-teacher-russia-prison/
www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna37938
I don't think it's a coincidence that the article mentions political posturing:
While Issachar languished in a cell, slowly learning Russian and writing in her journal, a political tête-à-tête was playing out behind closed doors. Her fate became tied to an unrelated case involving an Israeli Supreme Court decision to extradite an alleged Russian hacker to the U.S.
It seems Russia's game plan is to grab foreigners and give them long sentences for what's essentially minor crimes. Griner's charge is for a small amount of personal use cannabis and the Russians want to swap her for Vadim Krasikov, an arms dealer.
In my opinion, what any country should do with foreigners caught with small personal use levels of cannabis is to charge them, fine them, give them six months, then deport them permanently. They could make their point about the seriousness of drug possession and still show humanity. Drug dealers? Tough noogies.
What will happen is that Griner will be released by Christmas after the swap of a minor drug criminal for an arms dealer. Personally, I'm not happy about swapping Griner for Krasikov.
They should leave this stupid bitch over there. The WNBA is a fucking joke, a punchline!
share