WNBA superstar Brittney Griner testified in her own trial on Wednesday in Russia after allegedly bringing cannabis oil into the country, raising procedural questions about her arrest.
Griner, who has been detained since she was arrested in mid-February and faces a 10-year prison sentence if convicted in the Russian judicial system, which overwhelmingly results in convictions, told the court that her rights were not read to her after she was taken into custody when the airport workers found the cartridges in her luggage, according to the Washington Post.
GRINER’S DEFENSE TEAM ARGUES HER MARIJUANA USE WAS TO MANAGE PAIN
Officials told the basketball player to sign documents after telling her where to go via a translator, though they did not explain the significance of those forms.
Earlier this month, she pleaded guilty to the charges, telling the court that the cartridges were for medicinal purposes and that she didn’t intend to bring them with her.
“I still don’t understand how they ended up in my bag,” she said. “I had no intention to break the law.” She added she was “rushed packing and stressed packing … I was in a huge hurry.”
“As they ended up in my bags by accident I take responsibility but I did not intend to smuggle or plan to smuggle [banned substances] to Russia,” Griner explained.
She said the translator offered to her during the Russians’ investigation from February to May needed to translate a stack of papers for her and “took a brief look and then said the exact words were, ‘basically, you are guilty.’”
The U.S. State Department maintains that Griner is being wrongfully detained in Russia despite her admissions. Her treatment and detainment have made international headlines, while diplomatic ties between the United States and Russia have been severely hampered since Russia invaded Ukraine.
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There have been reports that the two sides could come to another prisoner swap following the one the two sides agreed to in the spring that resulted in the return of Trevor Reed, who had also been wrongfully detained by the Russian government.
“I can’t say 100% what the White House is or is not doing — that’s obviously not public information,” Reed said in a Tuesday interview on NBC. “But, in my opinion, the White House has the ability to get them out extremely fast, and they clearly have chosen not to do that. So no, in my opinion, they’re not doing enough.”
