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U.S. basketball star Griner on her way to Russian penal colony, lawyers say

17 Comments
By Humeyra Pamuk

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17 Comments
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Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, etc. (notice how they’re all friends) . . . Anyway, don’t visit these countries. This could happen to anybody who can become a convenient hostage & bargaining chip, especially during a crisis.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Some are complaining that the sentence doesn’t fit the crime. Most drug offenders are sent to penal colonies in Russia. She’s not being treated any differently from Russians.

Comparing the sentencing to what she would’ve got in the US is meaningless and illogical.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

Would love to see the "wrongfully detained" crowd take vape cartridges with cannabis oil into most Eastern Hemisphere countries and see how that works out for you.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Are we supposed to feel sorry for her?

2 ( +8 / -6 )

According to these links, the standard penalty for possessing under 6 grams of marijuana is 15 days.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_in_Russia#:~:text=Less%20than%206%20grams%20qualified,Russian%20criminal%20code%20article%20228.

Griner is getting nine years for 0.7 grams. There is no doubt she is being used as a political pawn.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

She committed a crime under the laws of the country she was working in and had been for some time so she can’t claim ignorance, not that that would be a recognised defence in the USA either. She has pleaded guilty. So far no indication of a “sham judicial proceeding”.

The important question which has not been addressed in the article is whether the sentence is disproportionate, another words is it outside the range of sentences given in similar cases to russian defendants. The fact that what she did would not be a crime in the USA is wholly irrelevant, she was not in the USA and being a US citizen does not exempt her from the law in any other jurisdiction.

Mr Sullivan’s comments would appear to be somewhat over the top and politically motivated or worse springing from a sense of “American exceptionalism” which is wholly unjustified. If the conditions she is being kept in are no different than any prisoner then while they may well be harsher than would be acceptable in the West nonetheless they are not “intolerable “ in relation to her though they may be regarded as generally intolerable for all prisoners as a criticism of the system from our viewpoint.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I'd hate to think how much worse this would have been had she been caught in South East Asia or the Middle East.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

That’s a shame.

Did you LEARN anything from your experience?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

so when americans are detained by russians -are innocent.

just wanted to be sure.

if americans detains russians they are guilty without any doubts than?

1 ( +10 / -9 )

so when americans are detained by russians -are innocent.

Psst, Eastman: she pled guilty.

Her innocence is not the point. The extent of her punishment is. Being sent to Siberia for an amount of cannabis oil that would be legal in most parts of the US is retribution pure and simple, not justice. Six months in a Moscow jail would have been sufficient to send a message that marijuana is not tolerated in Russia.

DO NOT travel to Russia if you're American. They're fishing for pawns.

1 ( +8 / -7 )

10 of thousands of American live in Russia still

0 ( +2 / -2 )

"Supermax"

Apologies for the typo but not for the suggestion of playing some hardball with Mini-me.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Everything is so wrong with this story.

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

Yes we are @Ego Sum. She plead guilty. The punishment does NOT befit the crime. A Penal Colony? You know exactly the Russians have been this hard on her. Don't play dumb.

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

Griner is a political pawn for Putin.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

Good reason for Biden to secretly send some long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine, so they can target Russian cities. Tit for tat, but on a higher plane.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Take the Russians in question, put them in solitary in Superman or Gitmo.

After a few,months of interrogation, lets see how eager the Russians are to make a deal.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

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