27th June, 2022
WNBA star Brittney Griner was ordered to stand trial Friday by a court near Moscow on cannabis possession charges.
The Phoenix Mercury centre and two-time U.S. Olympic gold medalist also was ordered to remain in custody for the duration of her criminal trial.
The trial date comes about 4 1/2 months after her arrest at an airport while returning to play for a Russian team.
Griner could face 10 years in prison if convicted on charges of large-scale transportation of drugs.
Fewer than 1% of defendants in Russian criminal cases are acquitted. Unlike in the U.S., acquittals can be overturned.
At Monday’s closed-door preliminary hearing at the court in the Moscow suburb of Khimki, Griner’s detention was extended for another six months.
Photos obtained by The Associated Press showed the 31-year-old in handcuffs and looking straight ahead, unlike a previous court appearance where she kept her head down and covered with a hood.
Her detention and trial come at an extraordinarily low point in Moscow-Washington relations.
She was arrested at Sheremetyevo International Airport less than a week before Russia sent troops into Ukraine, which aggravated already-high tensions with sweeping sanctions by the United States and Russia’s denunciation of U.S. weapon supplies to Ukraine.
Griner’s wife, Cherelle, urged President Joe Biden in May to secure her release, calling her “a political pawn.”
Her supporters have encouraged 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.