Brittney Griner's Detention in Moscow Extended for One Month

The lawyer for the basketball player said that her pre-trial confinement in Russia has been extended by one month.

The case would come to trial soon, Alexander Boykov told The Associated Press. She has been in jail for three months.

She was handcuffed and covered in a red hoodie when she appeared for the brief hearing.

We did not get any complaints about the conditions of the jail.

A maximum penalty of 10 years in prison is possible for the two-time Olympic gold medalist after she was found with cannabis oil in her luggage at a Moscow airport.

The Biden administration says that he is being wrongly held. The officials from the NBA and U.S. have been working on her release.

The Russians have described the case as a criminal offense.

The war in Ukraine has brought U.S.-Russian relations to the lowest level since the Cold War.

The United States and Russia carried out an unexpected prisoner exchange last month, trading an ex-marine for a Russian pilot who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the U.S.

The Russians may be interested in having a part in another exchange.

The State Department said last week that it now considers her to be wrongly imprisoned, a change that suggests the US government will be more active in trying to get her out. Her case is being handled by the department's Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, which is responsible for negotiating for the release of hostages and Americans.

The case is being worked on by a center led by Bill Richardson, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who helped the release of multiple hostages.

It's not clear why the U.S. government reclassified Griner as a wrongful prisoner. There are a number of factors that go into such a characterization, including if the detainer is based on being an American or if the person has been denied due process.

Ned Price, a spokesman for the U.S. State Dept., said that the U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan had a meeting with Russian counterparts but wouldn't say if she was discussed or talked about.

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