Griner’s pretrial detention in Russia prolonged by month

Russian authorities Friday extended WNBA star Brittney Griner’s pretrial detention by one month, her lawyer said.

Griner, a seven-time WNBA all-star for the Phoenix Mercury and a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was arrested in February at an airport outside Moscow. Russian authorities allege she illegally brought vape cartridges containing hashish oil into the country, a crime that could carry a

prison sentence of up to 10 years. Griner was returning to Russia to rejoin UMMC Ekaterinburg, for which she plays during the WNBA offseason.

It’s unclear when Griner will face trial, though her lawyer said he believes Friday’s extension means a trial could be imminent.

In a written statement, a State Department spokesperson said Friday that diplomats from the U.S. Embassy attended Griner’s hearing in Moscow and were able to speak with her. They said “she is doing as well as can be expected in these circumstances,” according to the statement.

“We have no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas,” the statement said. “The Department of State has determined that the Russian Federation has wrongfully detained U.S. citizen Brittney Griner. The U.S. government will continue to provide appropriate support to Ms. Griner and her family.

“We do believe that we can best and most effectively achieve potentially successful outcomes if we do have space to conduct private conversations. We are closely engaged on this case and in frequent contact with Ms. Griner’s legal team.”

Earlier this month, the Biden administration characterized Griner’s arrest as a “wrongful detainment,” an official designation that indicates it will no longer wait for the WNBA star’s case to proceed through the Russian legal system and will take more aggressive steps to negotiate her release.

Signifying Griner’s detainment as “wrongful” means the U.S. government may consider her arrest to be “solely or substantially because he or she is a United States national,” according to the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostagetaking Accountability Act, which Congress passed in 2020 to codify how the U.S. government handles international kidnapping and detention cases. The “wrongful” designation also could be applied if the

U.S. government has doubts about the credibility or fairness of the jailing country’s judicial system, or if it believes the U.S. prisoner is not being treated humanely.

The designation also could mean the U.S. government believes Griner was arrested so that Russia can extract concessions from the United States, which has imposed heavy sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

Griner has played for UMMC Ekaterinburg for the past six seasons.