By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
KHIMKI, Russia (AP) — American basketball star Brittney Griner testified at her drug possession trial in Russia that an interpreter translated solely a fraction of what was being stated whereas she was detained at Moscow’s airport in February and that officers advised her to signal paperwork, however “no one explained any of it to me.”
In her first testimony within the trial below questioning from the prosecution, Griner additionally stated that apart from the poor translation on the airport, she acquired no rationalization of her rights or entry to a lawyer in the course of the preliminary hours of her detention. She stated she used a translation app on her cellphone to speak with a customs officer.
Griner has been held since mid-February after police stated they discovered vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her baggage. She has pleaded responsible to the fees however says she had no felony intent in bringing them into the nation and packed in haste for her return to play in a Russian basketball league in the course of the WNBA’s offseason.
At one level in her testimony, her tone turned emotional as she stated she has all the time adopted the principles and tried to by no means let down her crew.
“My career is my whole life,” she stated. “I dedicated everything — time, my body, time away from my family. I spent six months out of the year away from everybody, and with a huge time difference.”
Her arrest got here at a time of heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington forward of Russia sending troops into Ukraine later that month. The slow-moving trial and Griner’s 5 months of detention have raised robust criticism amongst teammates and supporters within the United States, which has formally declared her to be “wrongfully detained” — a designation sharply rejected by Russian officers.
Griner, 31, faces as much as 10 years in jail if convicted. Trials in Russia proceed even after a responsible plea, and there was hypothesis that her admission was a bid to maneuver the authorized course of alongside in hopes of a attainable prisoner swap.
At the beginning of Wednesday’s session, Griner’s attorneys requested that she be allowed to testify exterior the cage that’s customary for defendants in Russian courts, arguing it was too small for the 6-foot-9 (206-centimeter) athlete to testify whereas standing. The choose denied the request however allowed her to talk whereas seated.
During her testimony, the Phoenix Mercury standout and two-time Olympic gold medalist described making a grueling 13-hour flight to Moscow from Arizona whereas recovering from COVID-19. Griner stated she nonetheless doesn’t know the way the hashish oil ended up in her baggage however defined she had a health care provider’s suggestion for utilizing it to deal with continual ache from her sports activities accidents.
“I still don’t understand to this day how they ended up in my bags,” Griner stated, including that she was conscious of the Russian regulation outlawing hashish oil and that she had not meant to interrupt it.
“I didn’t have any intent to use or keep in my possession any substance that is prohibited in Russia,” Griner stated, including that she understood the fees towards her.
“With them being accidentally in my bags, I take responsibility, but I did not intend to smuggle or plan to smuggle anything into Russia,” she stated.
She recalled being pulled apart at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport on Feb. 17 after inspectors discovered the cartridges.
Along with an interpreter who supplied solely a bare-bones translation, Griner stated she acquired neither a proof of her rights nor fast entry to her lawyer, however as a substitute was offered with some papers.
“There were documents that I had to sign,” she stated. “I can only assume that they were about the search and the cartridges.”
A girl who offered herself as an interpreter solely advised her the place to signal, however didn’t “explain the contents,” Griner stated, and “I didn’t know exactly what I was signing.”.
She stated her rights “were never read to me, no one explained any of it to me.”
At one level, she received on her cellphone “and I contacted my spouse, my sports agent and my club team’s translator” in Yekaterinburg, the place she performs for a membership within the Ural Mountains metropolis.
“Nothing was ever explained to me thoroughly at all,” Griner stated. “There was a lot of short words – ‘sign here’ – and at that point, I felt like being held against my will so that’s why I contacted my family and my agent and asked for legal representation.”
After a number of hours, she was lastly allowed at hand over her private belongings to a lawyer earlier than being led away in handcuffs, Griner stated. She stated she acquired solely a cursory translation of the fees towards her in the course of the investigation.
Griner described different cases of language confusion when an interpreter struggled to correctly translate the accusations towards her throughout a gathering with a detective.
“The translations weren’t very good,” Griner stated. “I remember one time him receiving stacks of paper that he was supposed to translate to me, and he looked at them for a brief moment and (his) exact words were: ‘Basically you are guilty.’”
Griner’s lawyer, Maria Blagovolina, advised reporters after Wednesday’s session that Griner “repeatedly underlined that she had no intention to bring the forbidden substances into Russia.”
The subsequent trial session was set for Aug. 2. Griner’s trial started July 1 within the Moscow suburb of Khimki the place the airport is positioned, and it’s unclear how lengthy it’ll final. The court docket has held 5 earlier classes that had been brief, and her detention has been licensed till Dec. 20.
On Tuesday, a Russian neuropsychologist testified about world use of medicinal hashish, which is unlawful in Russia. Griner’s protection crew has submitted to the court docket a U.S. physician’s letter recommending she use hashish for ache.
Griner stated Wednesday she used medicinal hashish for reduction from ache because of accidents sustained throughout her profession, including that it’s broadly used within the U.S. as a result of it has fewer unfavorable results than another painkillers
A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson stated final week that the legalization of hashish for medical and leisure use in components of the U.S. had no bearing on what occurs in Russia.
Elizabeth Rood, the U.S. Embassy’s cost d’affaires who has been attending the trial, stated American officers “are going to continue to monitor the case of Ms. Griner very closely, as well as the case of all U.S. citizens detained or in prison in Russia.”
Some of Griner’s supporters contend she is being held in Russia as a pawn, presumably for a prisoner swap. U.S. soccer star Megan Rapinoe final week stated: “She’s being held as a political prisoner, obviously.”
Russian media have speculated that Griner might be exchanged for outstanding Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who’s imprisoned within the United States, and that Paul Whelan, an American imprisoned in Russia for espionage, might also determine in an alternate.
U.S. officers haven’t commented on the prospects for such a commerce. Russian officers have stated no alternate might be mentioned till the conclusion of the authorized proceedings towards Griner.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”