“I still don’t understand to this day how they ended up in my bags,” said Griner, who has been detained in Russia since February, when authorities said they found cannabis oil in her luggage at a Moscow airport and accused her of smuggling significant amounts of a narcotic substance. She faces up to 10 years in prison.
Griner, who arrived at the Khimki regional court near Moscow on Wednesday in handcuffs, testified that when she was stopped at the Sheremetyevo airport on February 17, she was made to sign different documents without fully understanding what they included.
Initially, Griner said, she signed some documents but was using Google translate on her phone and barely knew what was in them. She was later taken to another room, she said, where her phone was taken away and she was made to sign more documents without an explanation.
Griner was not read her rights at the time, she testified, and no attorney was present.
Wednesday’s hearing — the trial’s sixth — was, like earlier ones, attended by US Embassy ChargĂ© d’affaires Elizabeth Rood.
The trial is expected to end early next month, Griner’s lawyers have said.
Griner testifies she used medical marijuana to treat knee injury
At the start of her trial, a prosecutor accused Griner of intentionally smuggling drugs into Russia, but Griner later told the court she had not meant to commit a crime, according to state media agency RIA Novosti. The cannabis oil was in her luggage, she said, as a result of her packing in a hurry.
Griner reiterated that statement in her testimony Wednesday, telling the court she was aware of Russia’s drug laws and had not meant to break them, adding that she was in a rush and “stress packing.”
Griner had a bad knee injury, she said, that put her in a wheelchair for four months, and she used medical marijuana when her knee and ankle joint were inflamed. But she never used it prior to tournaments, she testified, because of the risk it would lead to disqualification.
“No, I would never risk that,” she said. “I never wanted to hurt my team.”
In a hearing Tuesday, Griner’s attorneys called a narcologist as an expert witness, who testified “medical cannabis is a popular treatment specifically among athletes” outside of Russia, according to Maria Blagovolina, an attorney for Griner.
Alexander Boykov, another lawyer for Griner, stressed the defense’s position is not that Griner was “allowed to import” banned substances into Russia, but they hoped to show the court “even in the United States, where it is allowed, she used these substances occasionally as prescribed by a doctor, strictly for medical purposes to relieve pain.”
“We continue to insist that, by indiscretion, in a hurry, she packed her suitcase and did not pay attention to the fact that substances allowed for use in the United States ended up in this suitcase and arrived in the Russian Federation,” Boykov said.
Some have speculated Griner could be released in a prisoner swap similar to Trevor Reed, an American veteran who was detained in Russia for three years before his release in April.
But before any potential prisoner swap, it was expected Griner would have to be convicted and also admit fault, a senior US official previously told CNN.
‘She’s one of us’
“As we hope for the best, we urge the entire global sports community to continue to stay energized on her behalf,” Curry said, when joined by WNBA stars Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins-Smith to address the issue.
“She’s one of us, the team of athletes in this room tonight and all over the world. A team that has nothing to do with politics or global conflict.”
Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner, spoke with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris earlier this month after publicly criticizing the administration’s response to her wife’s detention.
Cherelle Griner said she was “grateful” for the call, but added she would “remain concerned and outspoken” until her wife was home.