Griner trial has been delayed 11 days as defense takes more time to prepare, #Griner #trial #adjourned #days #defense #requests #time #prepare Welcome to OLASMEDIA TV NEWSThis is what we have for you today:
All members of the media were allowed to enter the courthouse on Friday, for the first time since the start of the trial.
The hearing was postponed to July 26, after the defense asked for more time to prepare.
The US was determined to bring Griner home, Elizabeth Rood, the US embassy’s charge d’affaires in Moscow, said in a statement outside the courthouse after the hearing.
“It has become clear in recent days that there is tremendous respect and admiration for Brittney’s character and integrity, both in Russia and in the US,” said Rood.
“And we reaffirm our commitment to bringing Brittney and all U.S. citizens detained abroad back home,” she added.
Boikov also told the media that his client was tired.
He added that she had seen some of her teammates at Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company – the Russian basketball club Griner played with during the WNBA offseason – for the first time in months. at Thursday’s hearing.
Maxim Ryabkov, the director of UMMC, described Griner as “an excellent player” and a responsible person when he testified on Thursday.
Her UMMC teammate Evgenia Belyakova also testified, saying Griner was “a real leader” and a role model. Belyakova said Griner’s contribution to Russian basketball was “invaluable.”
“We miss her very much. We miss her energy,” Belyakova told reporters outside the court.
Calls for Griner’s release have intensified in recent weeks. Earlier this month, President Joe Biden assured her wife, Cherelle Griner, that he was working to secure Brittney Griner’s release as soon as possible.
The Kremlin declined to comment Thursday on speculation about whether Griner could be traded for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is serving a 25-year prison sentence in the US. Reuters reported:.
But Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow was ready to work with the US on a possible exchange and urged Washington to cease efforts to put pressure on Russia and not to speculate on this ‘sensitive issue’. according to the Interfax news agency.
Griner’s case has drawn comparisons to Naama Issachar, an American-Israeli woman who was detained in Russia for ten months after airport authorities found a small amount of cannabis in her luggage.
Isaachar was pardoned by President Vladimir Putin in 2020 as geopolitical tensions escalated between Putin and then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Her fate was tied to an unrelated case involving an Israeli Supreme Court decision to extradite an alleged Russian hacker to the US
Tatyana Chistikova reports from Moscow, Alicia Victoria Lozano from Los Angeles and Rhoda Kwan from Taipei
Rhoda Kwan