The Tale of Brittney Griner...

[seer]

Griner convicted, sentenced to nine years in prison with time served.

https://www.breitbart.com/sports/202...-years-prison/

Nine years seems a bit rough...

[Mountain Man]

Nine years seems a bit rough...

Perhaps by our judicial standards, but it seems to be a pretty typical sentence in Russia for Griner's crime.

In 2019, an Israeli woman was caught with nine grams of marijuana and sentenced to seven and a half years in prison.

https://reason.com/2019/10/11/russia...-grams-of-pot/

And just a month ago, in June 2022, a US citizen working as an English teacher in Russia was sentenced to 14 years for 17g of marijuana which he claimed was for medicinal use (of course he's not a WNBA basketball player, so he's not getting the same press coverage as Griner).

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61849579

Russia apparently takes this sort of thing very seriously.

[Gondwanaland]

Nine years seems a bit rough...

It certainly is, especially for simple possession of a plant extract, but in perspective, our own country has some absurd sentences including for marijuana purchase or possession, especially if it's your "third strike". So we don't have much to stand on.

Like.... life in prison for stealing some hedge clippers (this guy managed to get parole after 2 decades).
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...arole-n1243757

Life in prison for stealing 20 bucks and a pack of cigarettes.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...051-story.html

Or life in prison for buying weed. https://www.cnn.com/2014/09/02/opini...-life-sentence

[seanD]

Maybe they'll let her out early if she promises to become a Russian citizen and plays on their Olympic basketball team.

[rogue06]

After the conviction Putin is indicating he is open to a prisoner swap.

Russian foreign minister Lavrov says Kremlin ‘ready to discuss’ Griner prisoner swap

Meanwhile there are an estimated 40,000 Americans locked up here for non-violent marijuana-offenses -- many in states where it is now legal. Even if you figure that 90% were for trafficking-related offenses, that still leaves 4000 behind bars for doing essentially what Griner did.

[Mountain Man]

After the conviction Putin is indicating he is open to a prisoner swap.

Russian foreign minister Lavrov says Kremlin ‘ready to discuss’ Griner prisoner swap

Meanwhile there are an estimated 40,000 Americans locked up here for non-violent marijuana-offenses -- many in states where it is now legal. Even if you figure that 90% were for trafficking-related offenses, that still leaves 4000 behind bars for doing essentially what Griner did.

There's also the teacher I mentioned earlier, sentenced by Russia in June of this year to 14 years for committing the same crime as Giner. I doubt Joe is going to do anything for him.

[rogue06]

There's also the teacher I mentioned earlier, sentenced by Russia in June of this year to 14 years for committing the same crime as Giner. I doubt Joe is going to do anything for him.

A second American has been brought up as supposedly being part of any deal, but I'm not sure who.

ETA: Paul Whelan

[rogue06]

232ea9ea-8739-4614-9922-36cb0774a7cf.jpg
True dat.

[NorrinRadd]

There's also the teacher I mentioned earlier, sentenced by Russia in June of this year to 14 years for committing the same crime as Giner. I doubt Joe is going to do anything for him.

Mark Fogel from Oakmont in the Pittsburgh area. 17g of medical marijuana prescribed for back pain. Sentenced to 14 years of hard labor.

Middle-aged non-famous white guy, so not interesting to the media.

Edit to add: LJ did a segment with his sister. She's speaking cautiously, but it sounds like the Admin. is spinning on their collective thumbs. Sounds like Mark is not doing well. They have very little communication with him.