US basketball star Brittney Griner pleaded guilty to drug possession and smuggling charges in a Moscow court on Thursday, according to Russian media sources.
The reports quoted Griner as pleading guilty to the charges at Thursday's court hearing. They said that speaking through an interpreter, Griner said she had acted unintentionally because she was packing in haste.
Before Thursday's hearing, Russian police escorted Griner, handcuffed and clad in a bright red T-shirt and sports trousers, into the courtroom past a crowd of journalists. Washington hasn't made public its strategy in the case and the United States may have little leverage with Moscow because of strong animosity due to Russia's military actions in Ukraine. The State Department has designated Griner as wrongfully detained, moving her case under the supervision of its special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, effectively the government's chief hostage negotiator.
"The persistence with which the U.S. administration ... describes those who were handed prison sentences for serious criminal articles and those who are awaiting the end of investigation and court verdicts as `wrongfully detained' reflects Washington's refusal to have a sober view of the outside world," Ryabkov snapped.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, one of America's most prominent Black activists, this week called for Biden to arrange a prayer meeting with Griner, saying, "Four months is too long for this to have gone on, and I hope the President acts on her pleas to come home."
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