By: Efran Zhao
Brittney Griner, a WNBA player was arrested on February 17, in Russia for allegedly carrying
drugs in her luggage. The United States has offered to exchange her from custody by swapping her with a convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is currently imprisoned in the United States.
The Russian Federal Customs Service allegedly found vape cartridges containing the
marijuana concentrate hashish oil in Griner's luggage. When Griner was arrested, she said she has not explained her rights or given access to lawyers while being instructed to sign documents. "Nobody explained anything to me," she said.
When Griner pled guilty to the charges in English saying “I'd like to plead guilty, your
honor. But there was no intent. I didn't want to break the law,” it was apparently translated to
Russian as, "I'd like to give my testimony later. I need time to prepare."
This offer has raised a lot of questions on the standards and limits of trading prisoners.
Viktor Bout was one of the world’s most dangerous arms dealers, who sold weapons to terrorists, rebels and militants around the world.
Many people have raised concerns about swapping a “death-dealing arms merchant” for a
basketball player who may have been doing drugs.
John R. Bolton, a former U.N. ambassador and national security adviser, said “negotiations
and exchanges with terrorists or with authoritarian governments” become dangerous “because then you’re just putting a price on the next American hostage.”
But others had different opinions. Jeremy Bash, who was chief of staff at the C.I.A., said
“We value our own citizens a thousand times more than we value the foreign criminal … We will do almost anything to save an American life.”
Link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/28/us/politics/griner-bout-hostages-diplomacy.html
https://www.cbssports.com/wnba/news/brittney-griner-situation-explained-wnba-star-sentencedto-nine-years-in-russian-prison/