Brittney Griner's Russian teammate, GM offer character statements in court appearance

Two members of Brittney Griner's Russian club team appeared as character witnesses in her trial Thursday, telling the judge that she has been an exemplary player and citizen during her six seasons in Russia.

UMMC Ekaterinburg teammate Yevgenia Belyakova and Maxim Ryabkov, the team's general manager, spoke during the brief afternoon court session while Griner sat in the defendants' cage not far away.

Their appearance is believed to be the first in-person contact Griner has had with anyone she knows — other than the Russian attorneys hired for her case — since she was arrested Feb. 17 and charged with trying to smuggle drugs into the country.

Griner has already pleaded guilty, telling the judge last week that she inadvertently brought vape cartridges with hashish oil into the country and did not intend to break the law. In Russian criminal trials, however, the proceedings continue even after a guilty plea, as the judge reads the prosecutors' case into the record.

She is expected back in court Friday, when the proceedings might be less nurturing for her. The judge is expected to directly interrogate Griner, a common practice in Russian trials.

Tom Firestone, the former resident legal adviser to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, said he expects Griner will repeat what she said when she pleaded last week. Firestone said prosecutors and defense attorneys are permitted to ask «clarifying questions» during the interrogation.

Her lawyers have said they expect the case to last until at least early August.

U.S. officials and experts have said they consider the trial to be «theater» that could only have ended in a guilty verdict, as Russia seeks to trade her in either a prisoner swap or for some other concession from the United States.