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MOSCOW — More than four months after she was arrested at a Moscow airport for alleged cannabis possession, a Russian court has set the start date of the U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner for this Friday, July 1.
The Phoenix Mercury star was also ordered to remain in custody for the duration of her criminal trial. She 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, and unlike in the U.S., acquittals can be overturned.
On Monday, the court in the Moscow suburb of Khimki extended Griner’s detention for another six months after she appeared for a preliminary hearing held behind closed doors. Photos obtained by the AP showed her appearing in handcuffs. Griner had previously been ordered to remain in pretrial detention until July 2.
Several officials and experts familiar with Griner’s case told ESPN’s T.J. Quinn that a trial — and a conviction — were always likely developments, as they were for Americans Trevor Reed and Paul Whelan. Regardless of whether Russian prosecutors present compelling, specious or flat-out fabricated evidence against Griner, the sources said it doesn’t change the basic dynamic: Russia has indicated that it is willing to negotiate her release, and the legal proceedings are simply a pretense to put a sheen of legitimacy on the saga.
Griner’s detention and trial come at an extraordinarily low point in Moscow-Washington relations. She was arrested at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo 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.
Amid the tensions, Griner’s supporters had taken a low profile in hopes of a…
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Source : espn
