WNBA Star Brittney Griner Faces Russian Prison Sentence of 9 ½ Years
The harsh reality behind Brittney Griner’s sentencing
A.T.B. Gilchrist
ON THE 4th OF AUGUST LAST WEEK, Brittney Griner, a Star W.N.B.A. (Women’s National Basketball Association) player, was sentenced in a Russian court to 9 and a half years in prison for drug charges. She was found with less than a gram of hashish oil (cannabis concentrate) in vape cartridges in her luggage and, although many states of the US, her home country, have decriminalized cannabis, unfortunately for her, Russian has not. Even more unfortunate is that Russia’s sentencing is far from light, with an expert stating that for her situation there would be a maximum sentencing of up to 10 years in prison. Compare this with Australia; NSW has a maximum 2-year prison sentence and/or up to $2,200 fine. However, if you have never been caught before or are carrying under 15 grams or claim it is for personal use, then you are usually only issued with a caution, all three of which Brittney Griner would have been able to claim had she been caught in NSW, Australia.
Worse was that Griner happened to be both a woman of colour and gay, which, when considering Russia’s strict LGBT laws and regulations, would have no doubt added to the pressure of her case, which, in turn, already looked despondent with the average Russian Court having a notoriously high conviction rate of 99% (meaning less than 1% of trials result in a release). Even more daunting for Griner was that she was apprehended at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport in February this year, and a week later Russia invaded Ukraine. This not only severed many diplomatic channels with the US, but also revealed Russia’s true intentions behind the situation – that they were most likely to use Griner as a ‘political pawn’; something they can potentially bargain with. Following this, the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken stated that “[her sentence] puts a spotlight on our significant concerns with Russia’s legal system and the Russian government’s use of wrongful detentions to advance its own agenda, using individuals as political pawns.”
Her wife, Cherelle Griner called for the Biden administration to do “everything in their power” to get her released. Currently, Anthony Blinken is calling on his Russian counterpart, Sergey V. Lavrov for a high-level prisoner swap between the two countries, requesting the release of both Griner and Paul Whelan (the latter of which a US police officer accused of espionage in Russia in 2018 and received a 16-year prison sentence two years later). In exchange, the US would return Viktor Bout nicknamed “The Merchant of Death” who was convicted for arms trafficking and sentenced to 25 years imprisonment in the US. This has been the highest level of communication between the US and Russia since Russia invaded Ukraine, though hopefully not the last, as Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman said; “so far, there is no agreement on this issue.”