Two months after the arrest in Russia of an American basketball player, her case remains a mystery

In most parts of the world at this point, cannabis products are absolutely legal, but that is not the case in Russia.

United States professional women's basketball league player Brittney Griner, a two-time gold medal winner at the Olympic Games, is facing a difficult situation. On the one hand, according to Russian laws, he committed a crime (trying to enter the country a marijuana derivative). On the other hand, the context is particularly unfavorable.

In the wake of the war in Ukraine, the relationship between the United States and Russia is the worst in decades. In addition, Griner is a prominent LGBTQ+ rights activist, who has been in prison for two months now in a country that condemns and attacks members of this community.

Being such an outstanding athlete, logic would indicate that her case would generate indignation in the country, and she would be talking about this frequently. However, two months have passed and it is counted on the fingers of one hand the times that the case was massively mentioned in the media.

Many believe that by the way the State Department does not want to turn the issue into a public one, so as not to add extra value to Griner that makes it an object of negotiation for the Russians. An understandable strategy at first, but when more than 60 days have passed since his detention and nothing seems to have changed, some begin to question the strategy.

Under Russian law, it can take up to 18 months for a detainee to go to trial. In those months, even the consulate cannot have contact with the person. Once the court process passes, if found guilty, she could face up to 10 years in prison.

Griner has a specialized legal team, which the only thing that has so far publicly confirmed is that they are waiting for a hearing next month but it is unknown what may happen at that time.

The case is particular because of the public nature of the detainee, but the reality is that thousands of Americans are detained in prisons abroad, many of them with drug charges, and there is very little that the state department can do since they have no jurisprudence there. At best, in most cases, they can offer consular visits (which in Griner's case were not accepted by the Russians) and help them get a lawyer.

Nor can the State Department legally give information about cases, unless the person signs a document stating that they waive their right to privacy, something Griner has not done.

In cases where the state department tends to be more vocal, they are sure that the detained U.S. citizen is innocent. While for US law what Griner did is not illegal, for Russian law it is, leaving Americans without much argument.

There is a lot of secrecy around this case, which largely comes from the legal strategy of the team of defenders of the athlete. Griner was at Moscow airport in mid-February trying to return to the United States after playing in the Russian women's basketball league, which he also participates in. According to the documentation of his arrest, electronic cigarette cartridges containing cannabis-derived oil were found in his suitcase.

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