Brittney Griner, a prominent player for the WNBA, has plead guilty to drug charges and could potentially spend up to 10 years in a Russian jail.
Griner, a 6-foot-9 centre, was carried into the courthouse on Thursday for her hearing while wearing handcuffs and a red t-shirt and matching red leggings. In addition, she was observed holding a water bottle and a printed picture of her wife, Cherelle Griner.
‘I’d like to plead guilty, your honor. But there was no intent. I didn’t want to break the law,’ Griner said, speaking English which was then translated into Russian for the court, according to a Reuters journalist in the courtroom.
‘I’d like to give my testimony later. I need time to prepare,’ she added.
Griner was detained in February after it was claimed that she was seen in a Moscow airport with two vape cartridges that contained cannabis oil. Since then, she has been detained. Her next hearing is on July 14.
On July 1, four and a half months after her detention, the Texas native began her trial. Griner, like many WNBA players, plays overseas during the offseason to boost money, thus at the time, she was travelling in Russia. Griner is a player for UMMC Ekaterinburg, which is located immediately east of the Ural Mountains.
After the hearing, deputy head of mission Elizabeth Rood at the American embassy in Moscow told reporters that she had spoken with Griner in court and given him a letter from President Joe Biden.
‘She’s eating well, she’s able to read books and under the circumstances she’s doing well,’ Rood said of Griner.
‘I would like again to emphasize the commitment of the U.S. government at the very highest level to bring home safely Ms. Griner and all U.S. citizens wrongfully detained as well as the commitment of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to care for and protect the interests of all U.S. citizens detained or imprisoned in Russia,’ Rood said.
Griner is considered by the United States to be wrongfully detained, and her guilty plea could be more of a legal strategy than a truthful admission of wrongdoing. Sources told ESPN that the guilty please was a strategy aimed at facilitating a prisoner swap that could result in Russian detainees returning to their home country.
William Pomeranz, an expert on Russian law, recently told ESPN that defendants have little chance of being found innocent at criminal trials in the country. In fact, fewer than 1 percent of defendants in Russian criminal cases are acquitted, and unlike in U.S. courts, acquittals can be overturned.
As Pomeranz explained prior to Thursday’s hearing, since the trail is ‘a foregone conclusion,’ Griner might be able to reduce her sentence by pleading guilty.
‘Traditionally, the best defense is to admit your guilt and hope you get a lesser sentence,’ Pomeranz said. ‘There’s not a lot of examples of people raising strong defenses and getting acquitted.’
Furthermore, pleading innocent could result in authorities retaliating against her by making her life in a Russian prison more miserable than it already is, experts told ESPN.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov bristled at the U.S. description of Briner as ‘wrongfully detained’ and warned that ‘attempts by the American side to make noise in public … don’t help the practical settlement of issues.’
The White House said Biden called Griner’s wife on Wednesday to assure her that he’s doing all he can to obtain the athlete’s release, as soon as possible. They spoke after Biden read a letter from Griner in which she said she feared she’d never return home.
Washington hasn’t made public its strategy in the case and the United States may have little leverage with Moscow because of strong animosity due to Russia’s military actions in Ukraine. The State Department has designated Griner as wrongfully detained, moving her case under the supervision of its special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, effectively the government’s chief hostage negotiator.
There’s been growing pressure on the Biden administration to secure her release, with Griner’s supporters encouraging a prisoner swap – like the one in April that brought home Marine veteran Trevor Reed in exchange for a Russian pilot convicted of drug trafficking conspiracy.
But on Thursday, a Russian official said that it is difficult to exchange prisoners with the United States and suggested Washington remain silent about Griner’s fate.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergei Ryabkov said ‘hype’ around the case does not help, urging the US to cease correspondence with the basketball player.
Meanwhile, Reverend Al Sharpton has promised to fly to Russia to meet with Griner behind bars in what he described as a ‘clergy visit.’
‘It’s our intention to go to Russia and seek a clergy visit,’ Sharpton told MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell. ‘Anybody in any civilized world or any civilized nation can get visits from the clergy.’
He said that Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner, had been frustrated trying to set up a phone call with the WNBA player.
‘We need to go face to face to make sure that she’s all right,’ Sharpton said, adding, ‘We cannot sit by and ignore the fact that she has been marginalized and we cannot explain why. We want to see that she is safe and we want to make sure that the government of the United States maker her a priority.’
Last week, Griner wrote a letter to Biden to in which she pleaded with him to help secure her release.
‘As I sit here in a Russian prison, alone with my thoughts and without the protection of my wife, family, friends, Olympic jersey, or any accomplishments, I’m terrified I might be here forever,’ Griner wrote in the letter.
‘I realize you are dealing with so much, but please don’t forget about me and the other American Detainees,’ Griner wrote. ‘Please do all you can to bring us home. I voted for the first time in 2020 and I voted for you.
‘I believe in you. I still have so much good to do with my freedom that you can help restore. I miss my wife! I miss my family! I miss my teammates! It kills me to know they are suffering so much right now. I am grateful for whatever you can do at this moment to get me home.’
Her letter came after Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris made a phone call to her wife, Cherelle, to ‘reassure her’ they are working to get her released.
‘The President called Cherelle to reassure her that he is working to secure Brittney’s release as soon as possible, as well as the release of Paul Whelan and other US nationals who are wrongfully detained or held hostage in Russia and around the world,’ the White House said.
The initial session of the trial, which was adjourned until July 7, offered the most extensive public interaction between Griner and reporters since the Phoenix Mercury center and two-time U.S. Olympic gold medalist was arrested in February at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport.
Police have said she was carrying vape canisters with cannabis oil when detained at the airport.
The state-owned Tass news agency quoted Griner as saying in court that she understood the charges against her. Asked by the judge if she wanted to enter a plea, Griner responded, ‘At this moment, no, your honor. At a later date,’ according to Mediazona, an independent news site known for its extensive coverage of high-profile court cases.
Two witnesses were questioned by the prosecution: an airport customs official, who spoke in open court, and an unidentified witness in a closed session, according to the state news agency RIA-Novosti. The trial was then adjourned, it said, when two other witnesses did not show up.
Alexander Boykov, an attorney for Griner, said outside court that he did not want to comment ‘on the specifics of the case and on the charges’ because it was too early to do so.
Boykov also told RIA-Novosti that she has been exercising and taking walks in the detention area. The Russian website Business FM said that Griner, who smiled at times at reporters, said she wishes she could work out more and that she was struggling because she doesn’t understand Russian. Besides the WNBA’s Mercury, she played in Russia for UMMC Ekaterinburg.
Elizabeth Rood, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, was in court and said she spoke with Griner, who ‘is doing as well as can be expected in these difficult circumstances.’
‘The Russian Federation has wrongfully detained Brittney Griner,’ Rood said. ‘The practice of wrongful detention is unacceptable wherever it occurs and is a threat to the safety of everyone traveling, working, and living abroad.’
The American government, according to her, is working tirelessly to get Brittney and all wrongfully incarcerated Americans home safely.
During a preliminary hearing held behind closed doors last week, Griner’s custody was increased by six months, to December 20.
Her case arises at a particularly bad period in ties between Moscow and Washington. Less than a week after her detention, Russia sent troops into Ukraine, escalating already high tensions between the two nations. After that, the U.S. placed severe penalties on Moscow, and Russia accused the U.S. of arming Ukraine.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, refuted claims that Griner’s arrest and trial were influenced by politics on Friday.
‘The facts are that the famous athlete was detained in possession of prohibited medication containing narcotic substances,’ Peskov told reporters. ‘In view of what I’ve said, it can’t be politically motivated,’ he added.
A prisoner swap like the one in April that brought home Marine veteran Trevor Reed in exchange for a Russian pilot convicted of drug trafficking conspiracy has been supported by Griner’s supporters.
Russian news outlets have frequently suggested that she would be exchanged for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, sometimes known as “the Merchant of Death,” who is currently serving a 25-year term for conspiring to kill Americans and aiding a terrorist organisation.
For years, Russia has pushed for Bout’s release. However, given the stark contrast between Bout’s international sales of lethal weapons and Griner’s suspected possession of vape cartridges containing cannabis oil, the U.S. may find such a trade intolerable.
Others have proposed trading her for Paul Whelan, a former Marine and security director currently serving a 16-year term for an espionage conviction that the United States has frequently referred to as a setup.