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Ms Griner pleaded guilty to drug charges on 7 July
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WNBA star Brittney Griner was on her way to Russia to play basketball when customs officials allegedly discovered contraband in her bag.
According to the Russians, Mr Griner allegedly packed hashish oil in her bag, likely in the form of a vape.
It was that discovery that led to her now five month detention in Russia. On 1 July, Ms Griner appeared in Russian court for the first time and faced charges of smuggling less than a gram of hash oil inside of her luggage.
She returned to court on Thursday (7 July) and pleaded guilty to the charges that carry a possible sentence of 10 years in prison.
Hashish — also known as hash — is a drug made by compressing the parts of a cannabis plant that contains the highest levels of THC. Hash is traditionally associated with Middle Eastern and and Mediterranean cultures, but has been used globally for decades.
Hash oil is, predictably, an "oil" version of hash. The term "oil" refers to the concentrated liquid that is formed when cannabinoids are extracted from the cannabis plant. Consumers usually smoke — or more recently vape — the liquid. Hash oil is available in cartridges and vapes, similar to THC pens and common nicotine vapes.
In the US, hash and hash oil — like marijuana — are Schedule 1 drugs. It's still illegal to use and possess hash under federal law, and its legality varies state by state.
In Russia, cannabis is illegal. An individual possessing less than 6 grams of cannabis or two grams of hash can be fined or jailed for up to 15 days. Possessing any more than that becomes a more serious criminal offense.
Ms Griner was accused of having less than a gram.
“Being sufficiently aware that the movement of narcotic drugs is not allowed… no later than February 17, 2022 at an unspecified location under unspecified circumstances from an unidentified person [Ms Griner] bought two cartridges for personal use, which contained 0.252 grams and 0.45 grams of hash oil, totaling 0.702 grams,” the prosecutor said during the trail, TASS reported.
On the second day of her trial on 7 July, Ms Griner entered a guilty plea.
“I’d like to plead guilty, your honour. But there was no intent. I didn’t want to break the law,” Ms Griner said, speaking English which was then translated into Russian for the court.
“I’d like to give my testimony later. I need time to prepare.”
In the mean time, Ms Griner's supporters have continued months-long calls for her release.
Her wife, Cherelle Griner, gave fresh criticism of the Biden administration’s handling of the case on 5 July, calling it “very disheartening” that she hadn’t heard back from the White House about the athlete’s imprisonment.
“I will not be quiet anymore,” Cherelle Griner told CBS. “I will find that balance of harm versus help and pushing our government to do everything that’s possible because being quiet means they are not moving, they are not doing anything.”
The White House responded by insisting that Ms Griner’s case is a “priority” - before Mr Biden and Ms Harris spoke with the basketball star directly.
US officials have worried that Ms Griner's arrest is partially politically motivated, providing Russia with a bargaining chip at a time when it and the US are at odds over the war in Ukraine.
The Kremlin has roundly denied those allegations, emphasising that the nation was simply enforcing its narcotics laws.
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Brittney Griner appeared at a hearing at the Khimki Court, outside Moscow, on Friday
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