The WNBA star has been detained in Russia since Feb. 17, and the Russian government announced that her detention will be extended to at least July 2.
Brittney Griner’s agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, began a Twitter thread on May 3 with updated information on Griner’s detention in Russia. On Tuesday night, Colas added another tweet to the thread, this time on the Russian ruling of Griner’s extended detention.
The Mercury star will remain in Russia detention until Saturday, July 2 based on the extension announced on Tuesday.
Colas said that this extension just proves how Griner is being used as a “political pawn” amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began one week after Griner was originally detained.
“Today’s extension is just further reinforcement that Brittney Griner – an Olympian and an American citizen – is being used as a political pawn,” Colas wrote. “Her detention is inhumane and unacceptable. She has not had a single phone call in her 117 days of wrongful detention, and we call on @POTUS and @VP to act with urgency and do whatever it takes to bring Brittney home immediately. We must fight for BG like family because as an American, she is all of ours. #WeAreBG”
Griner, a seven-time All-Star with the Mercury and a two-time Olympic gold medalist with Team USA, was arrested Feb. 17 at Sheremetyevo International Airport, where Russian officials said they discovered vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage. According to the customs service statement, a criminal case involving Griner “has been opened into the large-scale transportation of drugs,” which can carry a jail sentence of up to 10 years in Russia.
As of May 3, the U.S government has classified Griner’s arrest as a “wrongful detainment,” allowing the U.S. State Department to transfer oversight of her case to the State Department’s Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, or SPEHA. The State Department has also called getting Griner back on U.S. soil a “top priority,” though Cherelle Griner, Brittney’s wife, and others from around the WNBA are hoping to see additional action taken to get her home.
The NBA and WNBA are working with the United States government to try to expedite Griner’s case to bring her home. U.S. State Department officials met Monday with members of the Mercury, Griner’s WNBA team, and re-affirmed their commitment to getting the 31-year-old back safely on American soil.