More than four months after she was arrested at a Moscow airport for alleged cannabis possession, a Russian court has set the start date for the US basketball player.
She was ordered to remain in jail for the duration of her trial. If she is found guilty of large-scale transportation of drugs, she could be sentenced to 10 years in prison. In Russian criminal cases, only a small percentage of defendants are acquitted.
The court in the Moscow suburb of Khimki decided to keep her in jail for another six months after she appeared in public for a preliminary hearing. She appeared in handcuffs. He had been ordered to remain in jail until July.
At a low point in Moscow-Washington relations, the trial of Griner came at an extremely low point. She was arrested at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport less than a week before Russia sent troops into Ukraine, which added to the already high tensions between the US and Russia.
After the State Department reclassified her as wrongly imprisoned, her supporters took a low profile, hoping for a quiet resolution.
A prisoner swap like the one in April that brought home Marine veteran Trevor Reed in exchange for a Russian pilot convicted of drug-trafficking conspiracy has drawn more attention to the case.
Russian news media have speculated that she could be swapped for Russian arms trader Viktor Bout, who is serving a 25-year sentence for conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens.
Russia has been seeking the release of Bout for a long time. The United States could find such a swap unpalatable due to Bout's global dealings in deadly weapons and the discrepancy between the cases of the two women.
She could be traded with Paul Whelan, a former Marine and security director serving a 16-year sentence on an espionage conviction that the US has characterized as a set-up.
On CNN on Sunday, the Secretary of State asked if a swap of two men for one man was being considered.
It's a general proposition. I want to make sure that Americans who are being illegally held around the globe come home. I can't comment on what we're doing except to say that this is an absolute priority.
Maria Yarmush, a lawyer specializing in international civil affairs, told a Kremlin-funded TV channel that any swap would have to include a presidential pardon.
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