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Brittney Griner, the WNBA player currently detained in Russia, will see her first trial hearing on Friday amid U.S. efforts to secure her release. Griner appeared Monday in the Khimki city court near Moscow for a preliminary hearing, according to the New York Times.
Griner’s first hearing comes more than four months after she was first detained at a Moscow airport on charges of possessing cannabis.
Griner’s lawyer Alexander Boikov told CNN on Monday that the trial would go ahead after a brief closed-doors appearance at a local court in a Moscow suburb. In a separate comment to the Times, Boikov said he expects the trial to take up to two months, depending on the court’s workload.
Russian state media shared a video of Griner showing up for her first hearing and leaving it. A correspondent for NPR noted that no officials from the U.S. embassy were present at Griner’s hearing.
American basketball star #BrittneyGriner arrives to a Russian court outside Moscow. Today’s “preliminary hearing” should set the schedule for a trial on drug charges. The US considers Griner “wrongfully detained” and has assigned her case to its envoy for hostage affairs. pic.twitter.com/8yY9i09gsN
— Charles Maynes (@cwmiii3) June 27, 2022
And 40 min later the preliminary hearing is over. No comment from Griner. Her Russian lawyer says the judge extended her detention for the length of her trial. No date set. Curiously, no US embassy officials present for the hearing. #BrittneyGriner pic.twitter.com/FSYprXjSgs
— Charles Maynes (@cwmiii3) June 27, 2022
Griner was first detained on Feb. 17 at Sheremetyevo Airport where Russian authorities claim they discovered two vape cartridges containing cannabis oil, a substance banned in Russia.
Griner, who plays for the Phoenix Mercury, was in Russia during the WNBA offseason as a member of UMMC Ekaterinburg, a team based in the city of Yekaterinburg. If convicted, Griner could face up to 10 years in prison for the large-scale transportation of drugs. The Russian court system is notoriously harsh and it boasts one of the lowest acquittal rates in the world.
Her detention took place a week before President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. The timing of the arrest prompted theories that it was a calculated move by Russia, as the country has faced fierce opposition from Western powers. The U.S. State Department categorizes Griner as “wrongfully detained,” a shift from the Biden administration’s previous reluctance to characterize her detention as politically motivated.
President Biden has come under increased pressure from Griner’s supporters to secure her release. Last week, dozens of organizations representing people of color, women and LGBT penned a letter to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris urging them to strike a deal to “get Brittney back home to America immediately and safely.”
Russian officials have dismissed the notion that Griner is being held for anything other than breaking the law. In an interview with NBC News on June 20, the Kremlin’s press secretary Dmitriy Peskov denied Griner was being held as a hostage.
“Hundreds and hundreds of Russian citizens that were sentenced for carrying hashish,” Peskov said in the interview. “Why should we make an exemption for a foreign citizen?”
Led by Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., the U.S. House on Friday approved a bipartisan resolution that called for Griner’s “immediate release.”
Stanton — along with Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, and Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas — had introduced a resolution in May that called for Griner’s release.
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