One of the most important cases in the history of Rybalkin, Gortsunyan, Dyakin and Partners (RGD) has come to an end – the two-time Olympic gold medallist and WNBA star Brittney Griner was released from the Russian colony and returned home after 10 months in custody.

Brittney Griner’s case received extensive coverage in the global media. She was detained at the Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport over drug charges in February 2022. Maria Blagovolina, RGD Partner and Head of White Collar Practice, joined the defence team and led this case together with Alexander Boykov of Moscow Legal Center. RGD’s White Collar Practice had been launched only two months before the incident.

Brittney Griner was sent to the Penal Colony No. 2 in Mordovia to serve her sentence. After filing a clemency petition, she was released and returned to the United States on December 8, 2022.

“We are happy to confirm that Brittney has returned home and is already surrounded by her loved ones and family. She is a real fighter and there’s no doubt she will get back to normal life soon and continue to succeed in her sports mission. We wish her all the best. I want to thank everyone for compassion and help during these ten months. I believe that Britney’s case will remain one of the most outstanding proceedings in the Russian legal market involving globally admired personalities. Prior to her release, we did a lot of background work to ensure all legal proceedings were properly executed, and we are happy to finally say that this case is over”, shared Maria Blagovolina, Brittney Griner’s attorney and Head of White Collar Practice at RGD.

”Our firm was conceived and created to seek justice for all, and every day we firmly stand by this principle. It was a great honour for us to represent Brittney Griner, a living legend of women’s basketball, in this high-profile and complex case that developed in the spotlight of global media. I am very proud of our firm, and I’m grateful to Maria and her team for their outstanding professionalism and great courage”, said Ilya Rybalkin, a Founding Partner of RGD.