“I demand that Brittney Griner be found guilty and sentenced to nine and a half years in prison in a conventional penal colony as well as a fine of one million rubles (16,000 euros)”, prosecutor Nikolai said on Thursday. Vlassenko at the court in Khimki, near Moscow.
The American basketball star, who hoped to be able to "come home soon", must now await the verdict of the trial which should fall soon, but the sentence demanded by the Russian prosecution does not bode well.
This is almost the maximum possible requisition for this crime, set at 10 years in prison.
For Brittney Griner, considered one of the best basketball players in the world, this nightmare began last February.
The 31-year-old double Olympic champion is checked at a Russian airport in possession of a cannabis-based vaping liquid.
She says she brought this substance inadvertently.
After weeks of incarceration, she pleads guilty, while refuting any drug trafficking.
This Thursday, the prosecutor assured her that she had knowingly tried to "hide" this cannabis-based liquid from customs officers at the airport.
In the midst of the conflict in Ukraine, Griner's trial took on a geopolitical dimension with talks between Moscow and Washington on a possible prisoner exchange of which the player could be a part.
The United States had thus entered into talks with Russian justice in order to request the release of American prisoners on Russian soil;
Brittney Griner but also Paul Whelan, American police officer sentenced to 16 years in prison in Russia for acts of espionage which he denies.
No agreement has yet been reached despite a “substantial offer” from Washington.