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Brittney Griner, the American basketball star detained in Moscow on drug-trafficking charges, will remain in custody for at least two more months, Russian media reported Thursday.
“The court granted the request for an investigation and extended the detention of US citizen Griner until May 19,” a Russian court spokesman told the Kremlin-controlled TASS news agency.
The Mash outlet also reported the news, sharing a video on Telegram showing Griner, 31, walking down the hall with two bodyguards.
A person close to the matter told BuzzFeed News Griner is fine and has met regularly with Russia’s legal team while in custody. The investigation is ongoing, and a trial date has not been set, the person said.
If the investigation is not completed by May, whether he will continue to be detained until his trial will be reassessed.
A State Department spokesperson told BuzzFeed News, “We are working closely with this case and are in frequent contact with Brittney Griner’s legal team.”
The arrest of the WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist was first reported on March 5, but Rep. Colin Allred of Texas, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he was arrested on February 17.
He was detained after customs officials allegedly found cartridges of hashish oil in his luggage at an airport outside Moscow. He could face up to 10 years in prison.
Griner is a member of the Phoenix Mercury but has played in the off season for Russia’s UMMC Ekaterinburg team.
TASS quoted Ekaterina Kalugina with Moscow’s Public Monitoring Commission, a group that monitors prison conditions, as saying she had met with Griner.
According to Kalugina, the US consul has not met with Griner, but a State Department spokesman said that is because Russia does not allow this.
“We confirm that the Russian government provides consular access to all US citizens detained in Russia, including those detained before trial, like Brittney Griner,” a spokesperson said.
“We have repeatedly requested consular access to these detainees and have been consistently denied access,” the spokesman said. “Russia must meet its legal obligations and allow us to provide consular services to US citizens detained in Russia.”
Kalugina said Griner was calm and reading a book while in custody, but had struggled with the size of the bed because he is nearly 7 feet tall.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was limited in what he could say publicly about Griner’s case due to privacy considerations, but that US officials would provide “every assistance” to Americans detained abroad.
Griner’s wife, Cherelle, asked for privacy because her work family brought her home.
It is believed that Griner’s officials and family were strategically silent to avoid making him a high-profile prisoner whom Russia would want as a political pawn due to Western sanctions against the country for its invasion of Ukraine.
Jason Rezaian, a Washington Post reporter who was held in Iran for 18 months, told CNN that he suspects that Griner, like him, is being held on trumped-up charges.
“This is the most daring hostage-taking by any country imaginable,” Rezaian said.
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