Jailed American basketball star Brittney Griner on Thursday pleaded guilty to drug possession during her trial in Moscow but said she had no intention of committing a crime.<\/p>\n
Representatives for Griner confirmed to The Associated Press that the WNBA star pleaded guilty to drug possession charges.<\/p>\n
Russian news reports quoted Griner as saying through an interpreter at the court hearing that she had acted unintentionally because she was packing in haste.<\/p>\n
Griner was detained in February at Moscow\u2019s Sheremetyevo Airport after vape canisters with cannabis oil allegedly were found in her luggage. She faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of large–<\/span>scale transportation of drugs.<\/p>\n The trial of the Phoenix Mercury star and two–<\/span>time Olympic gold medalist began last week amid a growing chorus of calls for Washington to do more to secure her freedom nearly five months after her arrest.<\/p>\n Before Thursday\u2019s hearing, Russian police escorted Griner, handcuffed and clad in a bright red T–<\/span>shirt and sports trousers, into the courtroom past a crowd of journalists.<\/p>\n The athlete was detained in February at Moscow\u2019s Sheremetyevo Airport after vape canisters with cannabis oil allegedly were found in her luggage. She faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of large–<\/span>scale transportation of drugs.<\/p>\n Elizabeth Rood, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, told reporters after the hearing that she spoke to Griner in the courtroom and shared a letter from President Joe Biden that she read.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s eating well, she\u2019s able to read books and under the circumstances she\u2019s doing well,\u201d Rood said of Griner.<\/p>\n \u201cI would like again to emphasize the commitment of the U.S. government at the very highest level to bring home safely Ms. Griner and all U.S. citizens wrongfully detained as well as the commitment of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to care for and protect the interests of all U.S. citizens detained or imprisoned in Russia,\u201d Rood said.<\/p>\n Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov bristled at the U.S. description of Briner as \u201cwrongfully detained\u201d and warned that \u201cattempts by the American side to make noise in public … don\u2019t help the practical settlement of issues.\u201d<\/p>\n The White House said Biden called Griner\u2019s wife on Wednesday to assure her that he\u2019s doing all he can to obtain the athlete\u2019s release, as soon as possible. They spoke after Biden read a letter from Griner in which she said she feared she\u2019d never return home.<\/p>\n Washington hasn\u2019t made public its strategy in the case and the United States may have little leverage with Moscow because of strong animosity due to Russia\u2019s military actions in Ukraine. The State Department has designated Griner as wrongfully detained, moving her case under the supervision of its special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, effectively the government\u2019s chief hostage negotiator.<\/p>\n Asked about the possibility of Griner being swapped for a Russian jailed in the U.S., Ryabkov, the senior Russian diplomat, noted that until her trial is over \u201cthere are no formal or procedural reasons to talk about any further steps.\u201d<\/p>\n He warned that U.S. criticism, including a description of Griner as wrongfully detained and dismissive comments about the Russian judicial system, \u201cmakes it difficult to engage in detailed discussion of any possible exchanges.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe persistence with which the U.S. administration … describes those who were handed prison sentences for serious criminal articles and those who are awaiting the end of investigation and court verdicts as \u2018wrongfully detained\u2019 reflects Washington\u2019s refusal to have a sober view of the outside world,\u201d Ryabkov snapped.<\/p>\n Griner\u2019<\/span>s trial was adjourned after its start last week because two scheduled witnesses did not appear. Such delays are routine in Russian courts and her detention has been authorized through Dec. 20, suggesting the proceedings could last months.<\/p>\n Although Griner\u2019<\/span>s supporters initially kept a low profile, calls for the United States to take action spiked after the trial\u2019<\/span>s first day.<\/p>\n The Rev. Al Sharpton, one of America\u2019<\/span>s most prominent Black activists, this week called for Biden to arrange a prayer meeting with Griner, saying, \u201c<\/span>Four months is too long for this to have gone on, and I hope the President acts on her pleas to come home.\u201d<\/p>\n An organization called Win With Black Women sent Biden a letter saying Secretary of State Antony Blinken \u201chas called Cherelle Griner, Brittney\u2019s wife, assuring her and stating publicly that Brittney\u2019s safe return was a matter of personal priority; however, we are concerned that the rhetoric does not appear to align with the actions taken to date. We urge you to make a deal to get Brittney back home swiftly.\u201d<\/p>\n Russian news media have repeatedly speculated that Griner could be swapped for Russian arms trader Viktor Bout, nicknamed \u201cthe Merchant of Death,\u201d who is serving a 25–<\/span>year sentence in the U.S. on conviction of conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens and providing aid to a terrorist organization.<\/p>\n Russia has agitated for Bout\u2019s release for years. But the wide discrepancy between Griner\u2019s alleged offense and Bout\u2019s global dealings in deadly weapons could make such a swap unpalatable to Washington.<\/p>\n Others have suggested that she could be traded along with Paul Whelan, a former Marine and security director serving a 16–<\/span>year sentence in Russia on an espionage conviction that the U.S. has repeatedly described as a setup.<\/p>\n Russia has shown no signs of backing off.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a serious offense, confirmed by indisputable evidence … Attempts to present the case as if the American was detained illegally do not hold up,\u201d<\/span> Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexei Zaitsev said Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cThe law has been violated, and arguments about the innocent nature of Griner\u2019s addiction, which, by the way, is punishable in some U.S. states, are inappropriate in this case,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jailed American basketball star Brittney Griner on Thursday pleaded guilty to drug possession during her trial in Moscow but said she had no intention of committing a crime. Representatives for Griner confirmed to The Associated Press that the WNBA star pleaded guilty to drug possession charges. Russian news reports quoted Griner as saying through an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":24139,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3295],"tags":[6850,5754,3604,8311,5522,6975,6734,5178,6573,6044,12741,6494,8128,7960,9194,11555,8032,11282,9560,10507,9171,7234,11356,9387,9304,8041,11273,6144,6060,7704,9127,5345,4028,5918,2264,9997,10825,11166,10197,2471,10342,9833,5572,5340,5441,11385,11973,9513,9579,421,3805,11377,5646,8306,6431,3457,5217,5655,11307,9844,8840,10656,7609,10220,11581,5180,9262,11181,8554,2354,5724,6571,2982,6495,5320,36,594],"class_list":["post-24138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-sport","tag-aid","tag-airport","tag-al-sharpton","tag-antony-blinken","tag-arms","tag-arrest","tag-basketball","tag-biden","tag-black","tag-blinken","tag-bout","tag-brittney-griner","tag-cannabis","tag-case","tag-charges","tag-citizens","tag-conspiracy","tag-convicted","tag-conviction","tag-court","tag-crowd","tag-death","tag-delays","tag-detained","tag-detention","tag-diplomat","tag-drug","tag-drugs","tag-embassy","tag-espionage","tag-february","tag-foreign-minister","tag-freedom","tag-gold","tag-government","tag-guilty","tag-hostage","tag-innocent","tag-investigation","tag-joe-biden","tag-law","tag-meeting","tag-military","tag-moscow","tag-oil","tag-olympic","tag-one","tag-phoenix","tag-phoenix-mercury","tag-police","tag-president","tag-presidential","tag-priority","tag-prison","tag-release","tag-russia","tag-russian","tag-security","tag-sentence","tag-sergei-ryabkov","tag-strong","tag-swap","tag-terrorist","tag-transportation","tag-trial","tag-ukraine","tag-united-states","tag-vape","tag-viktor-bout","tag-washington","tag-weapons","tag-white","tag-white-house","tag-wnba","tag-women","tag-world","tag-who"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}