The US basketball star Brittney Griner has appeared in a Moscow court docket in a drug trafficking case that Russia could need to use to barter one other prisoner alternate in its standoff with america.
Griner, who was arrested 4 months in the past at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on the suspicion of hashish possession, mentioned that she understood the costs in opposition to her. It's not clear whether or not she entered a plea at Friday’s listening to, which came about on the Khimki metropolis court docket exterior Moscow.
Prosecutors claimed that she was carrying two vape canisters with hashish oil totalling simply over 0.7 grams when she was detained. She might be sentenced to 10 years in jail if she is convicted of large-scale transportation of medication.
However america has categorized her as “wrongfully detained” and has shifted oversight of her case to its particular presidential envoy for hostage affairs – successfully the US authorities’s chief negotiator. Russian media have urged that she might be exchanged for a high-value nationwide, together with the former arms seller Viktor Bout, though the Biden administration could be hard-pressed to justify such a deal.
Friday’s court docket session was closed to the press. Griner, who arrived in a Jimi Hendrix T-shirt and sporting handcuffs, declined to reply reporters’ questions as she was introduced into the courtroom.
However the US embassy cost d’affaires, Elizabeth Rood, instructed reporters that she was capable of converse with Griner, who mentioned she was “preserving the religion” and was doing “in addition to might be anticipated” underneath the circumstances.
In a press release, the US embassy mentioned that it was working arduous to carry the Phoenix Mercury centre and two-time Olympic gold medallist house.
“We care deeply about this case and about Ms Griner’s welfare, as achieve this many People, and as we do with all US citizen prisoners abroad,” the embassy mentioned.
Diplomatic expulsions have left the US embassy with minimal capacity to help Americans in Russian prisons. In a single incident, Griner was unable to name her spouse, Cheryl, final month as a result of there was nobody on responsibility on the embassy to attach them, the Related Press reported. It could have been the couple’s first name in 4 months.
However Griner’s spouse, Cherelle, instructed CNN that she feels not sufficient is being achieved by US diplomats, regardless of good intentions.
“I don’t suppose the utmost quantity of effort is being achieved as a result of once more, the rhetoric and the actions don’t match,” she mentioned in an interview.
Griner, who was in Russia to play for a neighborhood basketball membership within the offseason, was arrested at a historic low level in US-Russian relations.
Russia has been accused of taking US residents hostage in an effort to facilitate exchanges for convicted Russian prisoners. Not too long ago, former marine Trevor Reed was exchanged for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot serving 20 years in a US jail for drug trafficking. Russian officers are understood to have sought the discharge of Bout, a convicted arms smuggler, in alternate for jailed People like Paul Whelan, an American convicted of spying. He denies the costs.
Griner’s trial will proceed on 7 July.
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