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Brittney Griner in court
Photo: EVGENIA NOVOZHENINA / REUTERS
US basketball player Brittney Griner, 31, jailed in Russia, has pleaded guilty to drug possession and smuggling in a courtroom in Khimki, Russia.
Hours after Griner's wife, Cherelle, vowed not to rest until she got home, the WNBA All-Star told the judge that she had no intention of breaking the law.
“I would like to plead guilty, Your Honor.
But there was no intention.
I didn't mean to break the law,' Griner said.
Griner asked the judge for "time to prepare" her testimony.
She is due to appear in court again in a week, on July 14, with her current detention pending December.
US President Biden declared Griner case a “priority”
The two-time Olympic champion was arrested at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport in February with vape cartridges containing hash oil, which is illegal in Russia, and has been in custody ever since.
If found guilty, she faces up to ten years in prison.
However, Griner's lawyer, Alexander Boykov, told reporters that they hoped the sentence would be as light as possible.
In a handwritten note just earlier this week, Griner had appealed directly to Biden to step up US efforts to get her home.
Biden then declared her case a “priority.”
Meanwhile, Moscow has criticized the US's handling of the affair.
"The public hype not only distracts from the case, but disturbs it," said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov on Thursday, according to Russian news agencies on the discussion about the American.
The White House had previously announced that US President Joe Biden had contacted Griner's wife Cherelle.
"No correspondence of this kind can help," Ryabkov said.
For the US side, it is more a question of "taking seriously the signals from Moscow."
Biden had assured that he would work for her "as soon as possible release".
Griner was "wrongly detained under unbearable circumstances," the statement said.
ara/sid/rtr/AP