Brittney Griner: US basketball player jailed in Russia testifies in court

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Brittney Griner behind bars: Testimony in court

Photo: Alexander Zemlianichenko / dpa

In February, US basketball player Brittney Griner was arrested at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport after being accused of drug trafficking in a dubious trial.

Griner has now testified in court in Chimki near Moscow - and complained about the actions of the investigators.

Griner told the district court that she wanted to board a plane to Yekaterinburg in Moscow.

She was stopped at customs control.

The inspectors found so-called vape cartridges, filled cartridges for e-cigarettes, in their luggage, opened them and smelled the contents.

The cartridges contained illegal hash oil in Russia.

She was asked to sign documents that she could not understand.

She used Google Translate for that.

"My rights weren't read to me," Griner said in court.

She called her family, her agent and a translator who works for her Russian team.

Griner had been on her way to her team UGMK Yekaterinburg, for whom she is playing in the US WNBA league during the off-season.

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"I didn't mean to break the law"

A translator was put at her side at the airport, according to Griner.

But he only said: “Sign this, sign that”.

He did not explain the content to her.

After a few hours, she was allowed to hand her things over to a lawyer.

Then she was taken away in handcuffs.

Griner had already pleaded guilty at the beginning of the trial.

'But there was no intention.

I didn't mean to break the law,' she had explained.

Now she said in court she still doesn't understand how the vape cartridges ended up in her luggage.

Perhaps she accidentally took the cartridges with her in a hurry.

In the US, her medical cannabis was prescribed to treat chronic injuries.

However, in Russia it is illegal.

If Griner is 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.

The American threatens to become a pawn in Russian foreign policy.

In a handwritten note, Griner appealed to US President Joe Biden to step up US efforts to get her home.

Biden then declared her case a “priority.”

Experts suspect that Griner could be used as a means of pressure, for example in the event of further US sanctions against Russia.

The Russian media also repeatedly read that Russia had sought a prisoner exchange, allegedly in order to free arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is serving a prison sentence in the USA.

It is unlikely that the US government will agree to such a deal.

It is unclear how long the process will take.

However, a Moscow court had ruled that the basketball player must remain in prison at least until shortly before Christmas.

The detention of the 31-year-old was extended until December 20th.

ptz/Reuters/AP