Griner arrived on the courtroom in the Moscow suburb of Khimki carrying handcuffs and a Jimi Hendrix T-shirt to face charges that she was carrying vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her baggage at a Moscow airport in February, per week earlier than Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“According to the expert’s conclusion, the detected substance is cannabis oil, which is subject to control on the territory of the Russian Federation and is classified as a narcotic drug,” the prosecutor informed the court, in line with Russian BFM radio.
Griner’s lawyer Alexander Boikov, who spoke briefly to reporters after the case adjourned, stated a customs official who searched Griner’s bag gave proof to the court Friday.
He stated Griner didn’t make any remark on the charges, reserving the proper to take action later. Another of her attorneys, Maria Blagovolina, stated Griner had “no complaints over the conditions of her detention.”
The court adjourned till July 7 to listen to extra proof from witnesses.
Griner has been in custody since February and can stay there till December, pending the result of her trial. U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Elizabeth Rood and different U.S. diplomats attended her listening to.
Rood stated that the United States was working “at the highest levels” to convey dwelling Griner and all different Americans wrongfully detained across the globe.
“We care deeply about this case and about Ms. Griner’s welfare, as do so many Americans, and as we do with all U.S. citizen prisoners overseas. We were able to speak to Ms. Griner in the courtroom today. She is doing as well as can be expected in these difficult circumstances,” Rood stated in an emailed assertion.
Griner’s case has been sophisticated by the extreme downturn in relations between Washington and Moscow, and her supporters say she is a hostage and political pawn.
“The Russian Federation has wrongfully detained Brittney Griner,” Rood’s assertion added. “The practice of wrongful detention is unacceptable wherever it occurs and is a threat to the safety of everyone traveling, working, and living abroad.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied there have been any political motives behind the trial.
“I can only operate with facts. The facts show that the eminent athlete was detained with illegal drugs that contained narcotic substances. Russian legislation does have laws that provide for punishments for such crimes,” Peskov stated.
Peskov final week dismissed claims Griner was a hostage, saying that drug offenses are handled critically in Russia and lots of different international locations. “We cannot call her a hostage. Why should we call her a hostage?” he stated.
Griner’s supporters in the United States have known as on President Biden to barter a prisoner swap like one in April, when Russia exchanged former Marine Trevor Reed for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot serving a 20-year jail sentence in Connecticut for drug trafficking. Reed had been jailed for 9 years after being convicted of assault endangering the lives of cops.
Griner is one in all two Americans that the State Department says are being wrongfully held by Russia. Former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan has been in jail since December 2018, when he traveled to Moscow for a pal’s marriage ceremony and was arrested in his resort room. He was sentenced to 16 years after being convicted of spying in a closed trial. He denies the charges and calls the case political.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that releasing wrongfully held Americans comparable to Whelan and Griner was his highest precedence.
“I’ve got no higher priority than making sure that Americans who are being illegally detained in one way or another around the world come home, and that includes Paul Whelan and that includes Brittney Griner,” he stated in an interview with CNN, declining to remark on whether or not the U.S. authorities was in search of a prisoner trade involving Whelan and Griner.
Russian media retailers have speculated that Washington might trade Griner for Russian arms supplier Viktor Bout, who’s serving 25 years in the United States for conspiring to promote surface-to-air missiles to a overseas terrorist group and conspiring to kill U.S. residents. Bout, the inspiration for the Nicholas Cage movie “Lord of War,” allegedly smuggled arms to warlords in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia for years — typically arming each side in a battle — till his 2008 arrest in Thailand and 2010 extradition to the United States. Russia calls Bout’s arrest and conviction “unlawful and political” and has been demanding his launch since 2008.
According to Russian customs officers, Griner was stopped at Sheremetyevo International Airport when a sniffer canine “indicated that drugs may be in the carry-on luggage of a United States citizen,” a reference to Griner.
Customs officers stated they discovered vapes in her baggage, which have been later analyzed and located to comprise hashish oil. The customs company posted video of the airport search apparently taken from surveillance cameras.
In early May, the State Department determined that Griner was being wrongfully held and shifted supervision of her case to Roger Carstens, presidential envoy for hostage affairs. The division has not elaborated on the premise for the judgment.
State Department spokesman Ned Price stated on the time that the division weighed the circumstances in every case, “whether it’s the case of Brittney Griner, whether it’s the case of Paul Whelan, whether it’s the case of Americans in Iran. There are going to be unique factors in each and every one of those cases.”
Price stated Griner was “fortunate to have a network who has supported her from day one,” including that the division had labored intently along with her backers.
About a month earlier than the invasion of Ukraine, the State Department issued a Level 4 safety warning to Americans, stipulating “do not travel” to Russia due to the chance of arbitrary enforcement of the legislation and harassment by Russian officers, in addition to tensions over Ukraine. It warned that State Department officers had a restricted potential to assist U.S. residents in Russia.
“Russian officials have unreasonably delayed U.S. consular assistance to detained U.S. citizens and have arrested U.S. citizens on spurious charges, denied them fair and transparent treatment, and have convicted them in secret trials and/or without presenting evidence,” the warning learn.