WNBA star Brittney Griner appeared in a Russian court today Thursday, June 14, a week after pleading guilty to drug charges.
Griner’s surprise plea came during a hearing near Moscow in a case highlighting the strained relationship between Washington and Moscow in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin has been accused of using the American as a political pawn, while Griner’s family and teammates have increased pressure on the Biden administration to secure her release.
Brittney Griner was led into court handcuffed around 3:20 p.m. (8:20 a.m. ET), wearing an olive-colored shirt and glasses. Before entering the courtroom, she appeared calm and even smiled briefly. Her lawyers and three US Embassy representatives accompanied her.
There was no filming allowed inside the courtroom, where Griner sat in a light gray box with metal bars, listening to the proceedings through a translator.
In February, Brittney Griner, 31, was detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport after Russian authorities said they discovered vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage. She has been held in custody since then and faces the possibility of up to ten years in prison.
During the hearing last week, she admitted to having the vape canisters but claimed she brought them to Russia by accident. One of her lawyers, Alexander Boikov, told reporters that Brittney Griner was packing quickly as she was in a hurry and the vape cartridges ended up in her luggage by accident.
In a later statement, her legal team stated that because of the “insignificant” amount of the substance discovered and Griner’s “positive contributions to global and Russian sport, the defense hopes that the plea will be considered by the court as a mitigating factor and there will be no severe sentence.”
Brittney Griner, a 6-foot-9 native of Houston, is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, and a center for the Women’s Basketball team, Phoenix Mercury.
Griner’s defense called Maxim Ryabkov, the director of UMMC, the Russian basketball club in Yekaterinburg for which she played in the WNBA offseason as a witness on Thursday. Ryabkov described Griner as an “outstanding player” and a responsible individual.
During a break, the two had a brief conversation, with Ryabkov asking Griner how she was doing. Evgenia Belyakova, her UMMC teammate, also testified, saying she has known and played with Griner for seven years and describes her as a “true leader.”
According to Belyakova, Brittney Griner’s contribution to Russian basketball was “invaluable,” and she became a role model for many. She also stated that she was unaware of Griner’s drug use.
“We miss her very much. “We miss her energy,” Belyakova told reporters outside the court later. Following a request from Griner’s defense team, the hearing has been rescheduled for Friday morning. Griner is expected to testify.
The State Department reclassified Brittney Griner as “wrongfully detained” in May and handed over oversight of her case to the State Department’s presidential envoy for hostage affairs. Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, has denied that Griner is being held as a hostage.
Last week, President Joe Biden attempted to reassure her wife, Cherelle Griner, that he was working to secure her release as soon as possible, despite a growing call in the United States for his administration to do more to bring her home.
Despite speculation in Russian state media in May that she could be exchanged for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is serving a 25-year prison sentence in the United States, Washington has not officially commented on any possible prisoner swaps for Griner.
According to the Interfax news agency, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that Moscow is willing to work with the US on a possible prisoner exchange, but urged Washington to abandon attempts to exert pressure on Russia and refrain from speculating on this “sensitive matter.”
