Brittney Griner’s Detention In Russia Extended Amid Deteriorating Relations With US

According to the US State Department, a consular official attended the hearing and spoke with Ms Griner on the sidelines. Ms Griner was doing "as well as can be expected under extremely difficult circumstances," according to a spokesman.

Brittney Griner, an American basketball player, has had her pre-trial detention in Russia extended for another month.

Ms Griner, 31, has been detained since February after Moscow airport officials allegedly discovered cannabis oil in her luggage as she returned to the United States after playing in Russia.

According to US officials, she was wrongfully imprisoned and should be released. If convicted, Ms Griner, regarded as one of the world’s best female players, faces up to ten years in prison.

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Ms Griner was photographed by the Associated Press wearing an orange hoodie and looking down at the court hearing, which was held in the city of Khimki, just outside Moscow.

According to the US State Department, a consular official attended the hearing and spoke with Ms Griner on the sidelines. Ms Griner was doing “as well as can be expected under extremely difficult circumstances,” according to a spokesman.

Following the hearing, Ms Griner’s lawyer told AP that she had not expressed “any complaints about the detention conditions.”

According to state-owned Russian news agency TASS, citing unnamed government officials, Russia hopes to trade Ms Griner for Viktor Bout, an arms trafficker convicted in the United States.

Former Soviet air force officer Bout was extradited from Thailand to the US in 2010, after a sting operation by the US Drug Enforcement Agency.

Bout, also known as “the Merchant of Death,” was arrested in Thailand in 2008 and extradited to the United States, where he was convicted of attempting to smuggle weapons to Colombian rebels for use against US citizens.

In April 2012, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison in New York. According to Russian authorities, a sniffer dog led authorities to search Ms Griner’s carry-on luggage, which led them to vape cartridges containing hashish oil.

Despite the fact that the incident occurred on February 17, Russian officials only confirmed her detention in the second week of March.

Brittney Griner detention came as officials from the United States and the Women’s National Basketball Association urged Americans to leave Russia amid rising tensions over Ukraine, which Russia invaded on February 24.

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Since then, US and WNBA officials appear to have made little progress in securing her release.

The WNBA said in a statement following Friday’s hearing that the extension of her detention “was not unexpected,” and that the league was still working with the US government to have her released.

Despite deteriorating US-Russia relations, officials have kept diplomatic channels open for negotiations.

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