The trial of basketball player Brittney Griner begins in Moscow

The American star was arrested for possession of a cannabis product at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow last February.

While traveling with her teammates from a professional Russian league team, local law enforcement officials claimed she was carrying vaping containers of cannabis oil.

Laughs, the Mercury of Phoenix (Basketball Association">WNBA) and two-time Olympic champion, faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted of large-scale drug importation.

Less than 1% of defendants in criminal courts in Russia are acquitted. Moreover, the Penal Code even allows an acquittal to be overturned by a judge.

At a preliminary hearing held behind closed doors last Monday, Griner’s preventive detention was extended for 6 months until December 20.

According to the state news agency RIA-Novosti, two witnesses were questioned by the prosecution: an airport customs officer, who spoke in open court, and an unidentified witness behind closed doors. The trial was then adjourned when two other witnesses failed to appear, and the next session was set for July 7.

Griner’s attorney, Alexander Boykov, told reporters outside court that he wouldn’t want to talk about the details of the case and the charges or comment on his position on it, because it’s too early for that.

The athlete’s detention and trial come as relations between Moscow and Washington are strained. Griner was arrested less than a week before Russia sent its troops to Ukraine, adding to already high tensions between the two countries.

The invasion led to sweeping sanctions imposed by the United States, and Russia denounced the United States for sending weapons to Ukraine.

Unjustified?

Elizabeth Rood, U.S. Charge d’Affaires in Moscow, was in court and said she spoke with Griner, who is doing as well as possible in these difficult circumstances.

« The Russian Federation wrongfully detained Brittney Griner. The practice of unjustified detention is unacceptable wherever it occurs and constitutes a threat to the safety of anyone traveling, working and living abroad. »

She pointed out that the US government working hard to bring Brittney and all wrongfully detained US nationals home to safety.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday denied that politics played a role in Griner’s detention and prosecution.

The facts are that the famous athlete was detained in possession of banned drugs containing narcotics, Peskov told reporters on Friday. Given what I said, this can’t be politically motivatedhe added.

Exchange of prisoners envisaged

Griner supporters kept a low profile hoping for a quiet resolution until May, when the State Department reclassified the young woman as wrongfully detained and handed oversight of her case to its presidential envoy. special for hostage cases – effectively the chief negotiator for the US government.

It was good to see her in some of these pictures, but it’s difficult. Each time it’s a reminder that their teammate, their friend, is wrongfully imprisoned in another country.Phoenix Mercury coach Vanessa Nygaard said Monday.

The coach hoped that Mr. Biden would take the necessary steps to make sure she gets home.

Griner supporters have encouraged a prisoner exchange like the one in April that brought home Navy veteran Trevor Reed in exchange for a Russian pilot convicted of a drug trafficking conspiracy.

The Russian media has repeatedly shared speculation that she could be exchanged for an arms dealer, the Russian Viktor Bout nicknamed the merchant of deathwho is serving a 25-year sentence for conspiracy to kill US citizens and aiding a terrorist organization.

Russia has been pushing for Mr. Bout’s release for years. But the stark difference between Griner’s case – which involves alleged possession of the vape cartridges containing cannabis oil – and Mr. Bout’s global trafficking in deadly weapons could make such an exchange hard for states to digest. -United.

Others have suggested the player could be traded along with Paul Whelan, a former Marine and security director who is serving a 16-year sentence for an espionage conviction that the United States has repeatedly described as a set up.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on CNN on Sunday that a joint trade of Griner and Whelan for Viktor Bout was being considered.

As a general proposition, I have no higher priority than ensuring that Americans who are illegally detained in one way or another around the world return homedid he declare.

However, he specified that he could not comment in detail on what we are doing, except to say it’s a top priority.