Brittney Griner

A Russian court has extended the pretrial detention of US basketball star Brittney Griner -- held since February on accusations of drug smuggling -- by ...

in Russia, and her case is being handled by the office of the US special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, a State Department official confirmed to CNN last week. Griner will also be paid her full WNBA salary, the league said. She had been playing for a Russian team in the WNBA offseason.

The lawyer for Brittney Griner said Friday that the WNBA star's pretrial detention in Russia has been extended by one month.

The U.S. State Department said last week that it now regards Griner as wrongfully detained, a change in classification that suggests the U.S. government will be more active in trying to secure her release even while the legal case plays out. It's not entirely clear why the U.S. government, which for weeks had been more circumspect in its approach, reclassified Griner as a wrongful detainee. It could mean buying time to work out a swift deal for her release, or it could mean more complications put on the table." "We are closely engaged on this case and in frequent contact with Ms. Griner's legal team. American government officials, speaking to ESPN, expressed skepticism about the reporting, saying it was likely a tactic to pressure the U.S. government. "The fact that they would make that statement at the same time doesn't seem like coincidence. Griner has been in detention for nearly three months. Also working on the case now is a center led by Bill Richardson, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who helped secure the release of multiple hostages and detainees, including Reed. In Moscow on Friday, Griner appeared for the brief hearing handcuffed, her dreadlocks covered in a red hoodie and her face held low. A U.S. official told ESPN that the report is further validation of why Griner was recently reclassified as being wrongfully detained and evidence that Russia's judicial system is transactional. "Timing is one of the most important factors I look for; it's one of the clearest ways we can glean intentions in a negotiation," says Dani Gilbert, an assistant professor of military and strategic studies at the U.S. Air Force Academy and an expert in state-sponsored hostage taking. At the same time, the Russian state news agency TASS published a story saying there were negotiations between the U.S. and Russia to exchange Griner for a Russian man being held in the United States for financing terrorism.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist was detained in Moscow in February after vape cartridges containing hash oil were allegedly found in her luggage.

We're hearing in that respect, she's okay, but we want her home." Ogwumike, 31, also revealed why she was speaking out about the arrest. The basketball champion faces five to 10 years in prison if convicted. The WNBA star's lawyer, Alexander Boykov, told AP he thinks the relatively short extension could indicate that Griner's case would go to trial soon. For Friday's brief hearing, Griner appeared at a court outside Moscow handcuffed, wearing an orange hoodie. "The Department of State has determined that the Russian Federation has wrongfully detained U.S. citizen Brittney Griner," a State Department spokesperson said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE on Tuesday.

The pretrial detention for Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner was extended for another 30 days by a Russian court.

“Today’s news on Brittney Griner was not unexpected, and the WNBA continues to work with the U.S. government to get BG home safely and as soon as possible," a WNBA spokesperson said in a statement released to USA TODAY Sports. The WNBA continues to support Griner, placing her initials and jersey number on the sideline of every WNBA court, while also paying her full salary this season. Griner was set to appear in court on May 19 and during proceedings on Friday in a Khimki court, outside of Moscow, a judge denied a request for Griner, who was in handcuffs and wearing a red hoodie, to be placed in home detention.

Russian authorities paraded WNBA star Brittney Griner in court near Moscow on Friday and extended her pre-trial detention for another month, ...

"It’s been 429 days since I’ve played basketball, but that means nothing compared to the 85 days of our sister Brittney Griner being wrongfully detained in Russia," Clark tweeted. The WNBA season tipped off May 6 without Griner, but her absence was clearly felt. She's played in Russia for the past seven years. The Mercury on Thursday retweeted pictures of Seattle Storm forward Breanna Stewart posted of herself wearing a Griner jersey and writing that it's time for "our friend, Brittney Griner" to come home. In March, Russian officials said Griner’s detention had been extended until May 19. At that time, Griner was said to be doing OK and was seeing her Russian legal team multiple times a week following her detention.

Lawyer for the Phoenix Mercury center expects cannabis case will be tried soon as the extension is relatively short.

She had her wrists handcuffed in front of her. “I want to take a moment to reiterate the WNBA’s support for Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner,” the WNBA commissioner, Cathy Engelbert, said last month. Griner, one of the WNBA league’s biggest stars, has been detained in Russia since arriving at a Moscow airport in mid-February.

WNBA star Brittney Griner was arrested at a Moscow, Russia airport in February for allegedly carrying cannabis vape cartridges.

Griner, who won the WNBA championship in 2014 with the Phoenix Mercury, has played for a Russian team in the offseason for the past several years. Also working on the case is a center led by Bill Richardson, the former US ambassador to the UN who helped secure the release of several hostages and detainees, including Reed. The State Department’s classification of Griner as wrongfully detained suggests the US will be more active in trying to secure her release as her case plays out.

The lawyer for the 31-year-old athlete said Friday her pre-trial detention in Russia has been extended by one month. Griner faces a trial on drug possession ...

They support each other as they can." "She's been treated OK and has no concerns or complaints about her health. The official said U.S. diplomats attended Friday's hearing and were able to speak with Griner. "She is doing as well as can be expected in these circumstances," the official added. "It could take longer. A State Department official said the department did not have a comment on Friday's development, but said, "As we have stated repeatedly, the Russian system wrongfully detained Ms. Griner." Boikov described Griner's mood as "normal" given her circumstances in a Russian prison.

MOSCOW— The lawyer for WNBA star Brittney Griner said Friday her pre-trial detention in Russia has been extended by one month.

It’s not entirely clear why the U.S. government, which for weeks had been more circumspect in its approach, reclassified Griner as a wrongful detainee. The State Department last week said it now regards Griner as wrongfully detained, a change in classification that suggests the U.S. government will be more active in trying to secure her release even while the legal case plays out. She has been in detention for nearly three months. The status change places her case under the purview of the department’s Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, which is responsible for negotiating for the release of hostages and Americans considered wrongfully detained. She appeared for the brief hearing handcuffed, her dreadlocks covered in a red hoodie and her face held low. Detention of Mercury's Brittney Griner in Moscow extended for 1 month

WNBA star Brittney Griner was arrested in February and faces charges that could lead to a 10-year prison sentence.

Bout, a Russian arms dealer known as the “Merchant of Death,” is in the middle of a 25-year federal prison sentence for smuggling arms to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) for use against U.S. forces. Signifying Griner’s detainment as “wrongful” means the U.S. government may consider her arrest to be “solely or substantially because he or she is a United States national,” according to the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act, which Congress passed in 2020 to codify how the U.S. government handles international kidnapping and detention cases. Profile: Chiney Ogwumike is on a tireless quest to have it all. Griner has played for UMMC Ekaterinburg for the past six seasons. But they came 10 days after the Biden administration officially reclassified Griner’s arrest as a “wrongful detainment,” signaling U.S. officials would ramp up efforts to obtain her release rather than wait for the Russian legal system to play out. A news report like that doesn’t appear in Tass by accident. Griner was returning to Russia to rejoin UMMC Ekaterinburg, where she plays during the WNBA offseason. We are closely engaged on this case and in frequent contact with Ms. Griner’s legal team.” Griner, 31, appeared at Friday’s hearing outside Moscow handcuffed and wearing an orange WNBA hoodie that mostly hid her face. Arrested in Thailand in 2008 and extradited to the United States, Bout was convicted of conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens and officials and providing aid to a terrorist organization. This month, the Biden administration characterized Griner’s arrest as a “wrongful detainment,” an official designation that indicates it will no longer wait for the WNBA star’s case to proceed through the Russian legal system and will take more aggressive steps to negotiate her release. On the same day WNBA star Brittney Griner appeared in a Russian court — at a scheduling hearing that was moved up by six days and that resulted in another 30 days added to her pretrial detainment — Russia’s state news agency reported that U.S. and Russian authorities were discussing a prisoner swap of Griner and convicted arms smuggler Viktor Bout.

If Griner is convicted on drug possession charges, she could be locked up at least five years with a maximum of 10 years.

"There's a delicate dance their families have to do with trying to raise attention with the State Department and Congress while not wanting to inflame Russia," Salvo said. "The State Department can't storm the Russian prison to bring her home," Salvo said. "To get to yes here, you have to convince the people who say you'll only encourage the Russians to arrest more people like Griner.” "The U.S. government has to ask itself: Do we want to trade a really bad dude like Bout for a good person like Griner who probably made a dumb mistake?" Russia would have a list of other nationals in custody in the U.S. whom they'd like to see returned. Griner's wife, fellow WNBA players and the league have shown their solidarity with Griner on social media. "They're going to try and horse trade," Salvo, a former diplomat at the State Department who had worked in Russia, said. Griner's family is getting help from former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson, who has also worked as an international hostage negotiator. Her attorney told the media on Friday that she has not expressed "any complaints about the detention conditions." Butler said the silence may be a legal strategy, although Russia's criminal code also limits the ways in which the accused can speak publicly about open investigations. The league said in a statement Friday that "today's news on Brittney Griner was not unexpected, and the WNBA continues to work with the U.S. government to get BG home safely and as soon as possible." "It's something you don't want to mess with.

Playing without Griner has cast a shadow over the season for the Phoenix Mercury. Several of Griner's teammates reacted to the news on social media.

Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner will remain in pre-trial detention in Russia for another month, her lawyer said Friday. Griner has been in detention for nearly three months after cannabis-derived vape cartridges were reportedly found in her luggage at a Moscow airport. Basketball community reacts to Brittney Griner's extended detention in Russia

The lawyer for WNBA star Brittney Griner says her pre-trial detention in Russia has been extended by one month.

It’s not entirely clear why the U.S. government, which for weeks had been more circumspect in its approach, reclassified Griner as a wrongful detainee. The 31-year-old American basketball player has been in custody for nearly three months. She faces drug smuggling charges that carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Besides Griner, another American regarded as unjustly detained in Russia is Paul Whelan, a corporate security executive from Michigan. Whelan was arrested in December 2018 while visiting for a friend’s wedding and was later sentenced to 16 years in prison on espionage-related charges his family has said are bogus. “Today’s news on Brittney Griner was not unexpected, and the WNBA continues to work with the U.S. government to get BG home safely and as soon as possible,” the basketball league said in a statement. WATCH: Is American basketball star Brittney Griner a political prisoner in Russia?

Brittney Griner appeared at a hearing in a Russian courtroom on Friday and had her pre-trial detention extended by a month.

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In a statement Thursday, Russian authorities said that Giner was detained by police in Moscow in February based on "objective facts and evidence."

Griner, who plays for the Phoenix Mercury as well as a Russian team in the off season, faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. Griner was caught attempting to leave the country with vape cartridges containing a derivative of cannabis oil. Earlier this month, the US State Department called Griner’s arrest “illegal” and “wrongful.”

Ex-New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who played a major role in freeing former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed, working to bring the WNBA All-Star home.

“Regardless of Russian legal proceedings, Brittney Griner has been officially designated as Wrongfully Detained by the U.S. Government and has been held now for 85 days. If a local isn’t likely to be in nearly as much trouble, it’s typically a sign that the person currently being detained is being held specifically because they have an American passport. (Reed is recovering at a military treatment center in Texas, and is in good condition, according to his family.) “Having learned that the U.S. government has now determined that BG is being wrongfully detained, we are hopeful that their efforts will be significant, swift and successful,” Ogwumike tweeted on May 3. In July 2020, Reed had been sentenced to nine years in prison for allegedly endangering “the life and health” of Russian police officers after an altercation; Reed and his family denied the allegations his entire detainment. He worked for almost two years to secure the release of Reed, who had been detained in Russia since 2019 and was freed by Russian authorities in a prisoner swap. Reed’s mother told CNN that her son said he felt “horrible” that he was home and others were still stuck, a reference to Griner and Whelan, another former U.S. Marine who’s been detained since December 2018. No one involved in Griner’s case, including U.S. Government officials, has explicitly said that the allegations against her are false. While praising and crediting President Biden for sanctioning the prisoner swap, Richardson added, "despite this huge tension and conflict, that we’re able to negotiate this is good news for Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner and we should pursue that." The terms of Reed’s potential release were first presented to the White House last summer. It’s seriously good news,” said attorney and Russian legal expert Jamison Firestone, one of the main proponents of the Magnitsky Act, the 2012 law that allows the U.S. government to sanction human rights violators. Griner, a center for the Phoenix Mercury, appeared in a Moscow court Friday, where her pre-trial detention was extended by one month.