On Wednesday, Brittney Griner finally got to speak for herself and informed the court that her rights were never read and a language interpreter didn’t properly explain to her what documents she was signing before she was arrested in February.
Griner, who has already acknowledged that she had vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage, said there was no criminal intent involved. When the Phoenix Suns star was pulled aside at the airport, she claims an interpreter provided an “incomplete translation.”
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 has been detained in Russia since February, when authorities said they found cannabis oil in her luggage at the Moscow airport and accused the WNBA player of smuggling significant amounts of a narcotic substance.
Just this week, Griner’s defense team argued that the cannabis oil she used in February was prescribed by a doctor to treat pain.
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“We are not arguing that Brittney took it here as a medicine. We are still saying that she involuntarily brought it here because she was in a rush,” defense attorney Alexander Boykov said. “The Russian public has to know, and the Russian court in the first place has to know, that it was not used for recreational purposes in the United States. It was prescribed by a doctor.”
If Griner is convicted of transporting drugs, she could face up to 10 years in prison.
