NEW YORK CITY (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th December, 2022) Former District Judge Shira A. Scheindlin, who presided over Viktor Bout's trial, told Sputnik she is happy that WNBA player Brittney Griner returned home, but does not believe her swap for the Russian citizen convicted of conspiring to sell weapons to Colombian rebels amounts to a "fair trade."
"We are glad that Brittney Griner was returned, but she committed no crime, in my opinion, at all, not even a violation of law, much less a crime, whereas Mr. Bout was convicted of a very serious crime. And so it was a very harsh bargain on Russia's part, because there was no equivalence between Mr. Bout and Ms. Griner," Scheindlin said.
She noted that the American people had hoped that the United States would "at least get two people back" in return for Bout, and were "disappointed" that Paul Whelan had not been freed in addition to Griner.
"That said, we are happy to have her back, and we are glad that at least there was some resolution to the negotiations, but it did not seem like a fair trade," the retired judge concluded.
Last week, the US and Russia exchanged Griner and Bout in a one-for-one prisoner swap. Bout was serving a 25-year sentence in the US on charges of conspiring to sell weapons to Colombian rebels to kill Americans. Griner was sentenced earlier this year to nine years in prison in Russia for illegally bringing cannabis oil into the country.
The swap sparked criticism in connection with the US failure to secure the release of former Marine Paul Whelan, sentenced in 2020 to 16 years in a Russian prison for spying.
The Biden administration has vowed to continue to seek his release, noting that Russia had rejected all the proposals to free Whelan, and they had a choice between bringing Griner home or no one at all.
