A courtroom in Russia on Friday prolonged the pretrial detention of the W.N.B.A. megastar Brittney Griner till June 18, her attorney stated.
Ms. Griner, probably the most embellished athletes in ladies’s basketball, has been in Russian custody since mid-February on drug fees that may elevate as much as 10 years in jail. The price is in response to allegations that she had vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her baggage when she used to be stopped on the Sheremetyevo airport close to Moscow in February.
Ms. Griner seemed in courtroom within the the city of Khimki close to Moscow for a procedural listening to on Friday, in keeping with her attorney, Aleksandr Boikov.
“She is OK,” Mr. Boikov stated in an interview, including that the courtroom denied his attraction to have Ms. Griner transferred to accommodate arrest. He stated he expects the trial to start in about two months.
Whilst Ms. Griner used to be arrested one week prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Russian government didn’t disclose her detention till days after the warfare started, elevating fears she may well be used as a bargaining chip within the general disaster.
The U.S. State Division has stated it had decided Ms. Griner used to be “wrongfully detained,” signaling its goal to get extra actively concerned within the scenario.
On the finish of April, Russia launched Trevor R. Reed, an ill former American Marine who have been sentenced to 9 years in jail for attack, in a prisoner change with the USA. That raised hopes that Ms. Griner may additionally be launched.
It’s standard of Russian courts to increase detention till trial, which then can take weeks to finish. Mr. Reed’s liberate, for example, came about after he used to be convicted and had spent years in a Russian jail.
Ms. Griner’s staff and circle of relatives had been fairly quiet about her scenario.
A two-time Olympic gold medalist, Ms. Griner is one among a number of American avid gamers who compete for global groups within the low season length to complement their W.N.B.A. paychecks. She has performed for the UMMC staff in Yekaterinburg, Russia, since 2014.
