Lawyers for basketball star Brittney Griner appeal her Russian prison sentence
NPRLawyers for basketball star Brittney Griner appeal her Russian prison sentence Enlarge this image toggle caption Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP MOSCOW — Lawyers for American basketball star Brittney Griner on Monday filed an appeal against her nine-year Russian prison sentence for drug possession, Russian news agencies reported Monday. Secretary of State Antony Blinken took the unusual step of revealing publicly in July that the U.S. had made a "substantial proposal" to get Griner home home, along with Paul Whelan, an American serving a 16-year sentence in Russia for espionage. Blinken didn't elaborate, but NPR, The Associated Press and other news organizations have reported that Washington has offered to free Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer who is serving a 25-year sentence in the U.S. and once earned the nickname the "Merchant of Death." "This quite sensitive issue of the swap of convicted Russian and U.S. citizens is being discussed through the channels defined by our presidents," Alexander Darchiev, head of the Foreign Ministry's North America department, told state news agency Tass.