Russia extends Brittney Griner’s detention by two months

WNBA basketball star Brittney Griner is being held in a Russian jail Thursday through May for possession of cannabis vape cartridges, according to state media outlets. Griner was taken into custody at an airport near Moscow last month after customs officials reportedly found cannabis oil cartridges in her luggage. The Olympic champion has been imprisoned in Russia since her arrest.

On Thursday, Russia’s state news agency TASS reported that the Khimki City Court in the Moscow region has decided to detain Griner for at least two more months while the case is investigated, according to a Daily Mail report.

“The court granted the request for an investigation and extended the detention of US citizen Griner until May 19,” the court ruled.

Griner is a seven-time WNBA All-Star Center and has played for Phoenix Mercury since 2013, including for the team’s 2014 league championship roster. She has also twice won the Olympic gold medal with the US women’s basketball team.

Griner played pro basketball in Russia for seven seasons during the winter, a common practice among WNBA players. She makes about $1 million a season playing in Russia, about four times the salary she earns playing for Phoenix. On January 29, Griner played her last game with her team UMMC Ekaterinburg before the Russian league went on a two-week hiatus for the FIBA ​​World Cup qualifying tournaments.

WNBA star arrested last month

Russian Customs Service reported on March 5 that an American basketball player was arrested after cannabis vape cartridges were discovered in her luggage at Sheremetyevo Airport near Moscow. Griner was not identified by name and the date of the arrest was not given. Customs also released a video that appears to show Griner making her way through an airport security checkpoint.

TASS then reported that the arrested player was Griner. Though the date of Griner’s arrest has not been released, media reported that she has been in custody since February. After news of the arrest broke, the WNBA and the players’ union expressed their support for the star player.

“Brittney Griner has the full support of the WNBA, and our top priority is her speedy and safe return to the United States,” the league said in a statement after Griner’s arrest was announced by Russian media.

TASS reported Thursday that Griner is being held in an undisclosed Russian prison pending investigation into the case. The news agency also said that Ekaterina Kalugina from the human rights organization Public Monitoring Commission, a semi-official body with access to Russian prisons, visited Griner. Kalugina reported that Griner was doing well and being held in decent conditions.

Kalugina further reported that Griner has accepted her detention and is being held in a cell with two other women with no criminal record who are also being held on drug-related charges. Griner’s only problem, she said, was that the jail’s beds are too small for the 6ft 9in basketball star.

“The beds in the cell are clearly designed for a smaller person,” Kalugina told TASS.

The human rights activist also said US authorities have yet to visit Griner in Russia, which invaded neighboring Ukraine on February 24, plunging the region into a humanitarian and diplomatic crisis.

“Also, for an unknown reason, the US consul is not waking up [see Griner]although the administration of the detention center is ready to create all the conditions for a visit,” TASS quoted Kalugina as saying.

The report goes on to say that Griner’s imprisonment is being made easier by the women who are being held with her.

“[Griner’s cellmates] also had no criminal record and faces drug abuse charges [offenses]’ said Kalugina. “They speak English and help Griner communicate with the prison administration.”

“They helped her order books: she reads FM Dostoyevsky and [a] Biography of the members of the Rolling Stones,” she continued.

Uproar over Griner’s arrest

Griner’s arrest has prompted an outcry from politicians and celebrities around the world. Democratic Rep. Colin Allred of Texas, the basketball star’s home state, said March 9 he is investigating the circumstances of Griner’s arrest.

“My office has been in contact with the State Department and we are working with them to see what the best way forward is,” Allred said, as quoted by ESPN. “I know the administration is working hard to get access to her and try to be helpful here. But of course it also happens in the context of really strained relationships. I think it’s really unusual that our embassy and consular services didn’t give us access to her.”

American Iranian journalist Jason Rezaian was arrested by the Iranian government in Tehran in 2014 and held in a notorious prison for 544 days before finally being released in 2016. He said he sees similarities in his case and Griner’s.

“It’s the boldest state hostage situation imaginable,” Rezaian told CNN. “I know from my own case that the alleged charges against me were not based on reality and served to perpetuate a narrative as to why I was being held.”