Griner

[Truckman]

Everyone is still locked up for the moment, aren't they?......Ben

[Phillbo]

The media needs to shut up about it or it will not happen.

[FredK]

Interesting note. Her lawyer is claiming the Russian didn't follow the law before searching her bag. Wonder how that plays out????

[UTAH]

Yes - it does look like Russia planned to nail her for something, and then looked for a way to do it. Having said that, Russian Judges/Courts will overlook what Putin wants them to overlook. Either way, she remains in jail. May her release be pending...

Hunter

[Dave Grubb]

From the NYT--minutes ago:

A Russian court on Thursday found the American basketball star Brittney Griner guilty of an attempt to smuggle illegal narcotics into Russia and sentenced her to nine years in a penal colony, according to her lawyers.

[Truckman]

It's a good warning for potential travelers to Russia...Just don't......Ben

[Independent Voter]

In truth , she broke the law . I do however think the punishment is a bit harsh. But then again , Russia is not as leinent as the U.S.

Here , even tho she seams to dislike the U.S. , she would have been back on the street before the ink was dry on the paperwork .

[Truckman]

In truth , she broke the law . I do however think the punishment is a bit harsh.

By US standards it was, but it wasn't US laws she violated...It would be like me going to Mexico and getting caught with a single round of .22 ammo in my pocket...I would face years in prison with no hope for parole...All good reasons to stay right here......Ben

[Phillbo]

I read somewhere that she can't be considered for a prisoner exchange until she has been sentenced. Exchanges need to be done on the down low in my opinion. They part a target on all our heads from countries we are detaining citizens from.

[Mike]

Brittney Griner pleaded guilty and was convicted of drug smuggling and drug possession, both are crimes in Russia, just as they are here. She had to know that it was a serious crime to smuggle drugs into Russia, just as it is here.

If the circumstances were reversed, and Griner had been arrested for the same crimes on her way back into our country, pleaded guilty and was convicted, would you that defend her feel the same way? Would you be shouting for her release from an American prison? I think not.

What if it was a Russian who attempted to smuggle drugs into the U.S., would you be screaming for their release? I think not.

What if it had happened in England? Would you that defend her cry out for her release? I think not.

I will admit that Russian prisons are supposed to be much worse places than American prisons which are bad enough themselves. But, is that a reason to go all-out to release a convicted criminal?

The only reason there is such a hubbub being made is because it is taking place in Russia. Too bad! She has been living and playing ball in Russia during our off-season for six years. She had to know the law and the consequences of breaking the law.

I admit that I think she got a particularly harsh sentence, a sentence that is about double what she could receive here. But, she is not here and she is subject to Russian laws, not American laws for these crimes.

Time to pay the piper. I don't know how it works in Russia, but maybe she can earn good time and be released much sooner than the nine years she received.

[Kevin]

Griner pled guilty under advice from her Russian counsel because of a 99% conviction rate in Russian courts. She was going to go to jail anyway, so she was hoping for leniency.

There is NO LAW in Russia, Mike. There is only the state. You seem to think that it works like it does here - break the law, get a trial and if found guilty, you go to jail. Unfortunately, there is no such model in Russia. If you are arrested, you are assumed to be guilty and you WILL be going to jail. The only issue is for how long.

Would I be "screaming" for a Russian's release? First of all, I'm not "screaming". I'm arguing for a position, the same as you. You might fairly be said to be "screaming" to throw her in jail.

Second, you keep talking about "smuggling drugs" as if she were a drug mule. Let's keep it in perspective. She had personal use vape cartridges, not 10 kilos of heroin strapped to her body. So yes, I would be advocating for a different outcome than jail if a Russian got held up at Customs for the same offense. I am not in favor of criminalizing personal drug use generally if the amounts are obviously for personal use.

What if it happened in England? England is a country of laws, much like our own. The accused has rights. The trial outcome is not fixed. It is entirely different from Russia, where the fix is in the moment you are arrested. Griner never had a chance once she was in the system, but that is not the case in England. So the analogy is false.

"Go all out to release a convicted criminal"? I want an American to come home, not be in the clutches of a lawless state, seeking to gain advantage over us by holding our citizens hostage. It all depends on your perspective and unlike you, my family is seeing first hand right now in Ukraine what it means to be on the wrong side of Putin, which is where Griner is. Griner is being sent to a penal colony

Prison guards at the penal colony where Kotov was held would harass inmates over minor situations such as not greeting an officer or not wearing gloves in cold weather, he said.

"What's most important about these reprimands is that they use them to strip you of a chance to get parole," he said last year. "So you fail to greet an officer and will stay behind bars to the end of your term."

Dmitry Demushkin, a Russian nationalist leader who was detained in a penal colony, told the news outlet RT that the physical demands were brutal, according to AP.

"Much worse than beatings is the detention regime," he said. "You either stand for six to eight hours a day or you sit with your back straight, legs together, arms on your knees and nothing can be done.

"For any action, for example, if you want to scratch your nose, you have to get permission from the 'activists,'" inmates who report on their fellow prisoners' behavior to guards.


https://www.newsweek.com/what-penal-...amined-1731057

THAT'S what it is like to be a prisoner in Russia. For personal use amounts of vape. It is not like here, Mike. I cannot believe you would defend that sort of system.

Yes, the reason that there is such a hubbub is that it is taking place in Russia - because of what Russia is!! And under Putin, there is no law but his. I don't know why you want to cooperate with that type of regime. You want to know how it works in Russia? There is no "good time" or "bad time". That is putting an American perspective on a foreign country and its legal system. In Russia, there is only Putin, and when he decides to let her go, she leaves. Until then, she stays in jail. Forever, if need be. Because that is the way it is in Russia.

I'd spare her that. She brought vape for personal use into Russia at a bad time. That was her crime. She is not a drug mule, so "smuggling drugs" is a gross overstatement.

Do you know what her life in Russia has been? First, it is lucrative. She gets paid over 1 million dollars for a season, which is 5 times her salary here, so saying "well, she was warned not to go" is easy when you aren't looking at 80% of your income disappearing. But setting that aside, in a normal year, she lands and is met and escorted around Customs. She doesn't have to even go through Customs like here because she is a pezzonovante, a big wheel, and she is playing on some criminal oligarch's team and he has greased the way for her. She walks out to a private jet, stocked with champagne and caviar, which whisks her off to wherever she is staying, which is the Ritz of whatever city she is in. A limo takes her to practice and her games. Why? Because criminal oligarchs RUN RUSSIA!!! It is corruption all the way down. But she is a big wheel so she is cosseted and pampered and she sees and experiences NOTHING of what Russia really is.

Until this trip. All of a suddens, she is caught up in the power politics between Putin and the United States and I put it that way because it isn't about "Russia and the United States", it is Putin's show from first to last. So Putin wants to cause grief to the United States and takes a hostage. She is being ground up by two nations looking for advantage and that is one hell of a place to be. She is alone in a country where any other time she'd be living the good life and now, she is sitting in a jail not because she brought in vape but because Putin wants to use her to get advantage on the United States.

I'm not in favor of allowing fellow Americans to be used by governments in the Great Game. The offense is minor and the sentence ridiculous and the only reason she is even arrested is because Putin wants her to be so there is no legal system of any kind in Russia that is fair or where an accused has a chance to be heard.

I can only surmise that after so many years of being a police officer, you simply cannot see beyond the binary "crime/no crime" calculus to realize that allowing people to be ground up by nations is morally wrong.

[Kevin]

Here , even tho she seams to dislike the U.S. , she would have been back on the street before the ink was dry on the paperwork .

Yeah, because your political views should not have any bearing on how the law is applied. You seem to view it the opposite. And it is - in Russia. Be careful of adopting an attitude that seeks to punish people for the views they espouse instead of the laws they break. That's what dictators do.

[Sandman]

Yeah, because your political views should not have any bearing on how the law is applied. You seem to view it the opposite. And it is - in Russia. Be careful of adopting an attitude that seeks to punish people for the views they espouse instead of the laws they break. That's what dictators do.

Yes.. she is receiving much criticism from the right because her domestic politics are not to their liking.

She is a knucklehead..
She shouldn’t have had the THC oil..
She is an American Citizen and deserves our support, once she is home feel free to ream her a new one..

[Mike]

We will just have to disagree on this.

Unless something new comes to light, I am done with Griner. I hope she has learned from this experience, but I suspect her rescue will only empower her elitism.

[Kevin]

"Empower her elitism"? Sounds as if you have a personal issue with Griner, apart from what she did.

BTW, she was given 9 years for less than 1 gram of vape. 1 gram = .035 oz. Some big time drug smuggler there!