“I hope to be home soon,” said Brittney Griner on August 2.
But the desire of the Phoenix Mercury player, imprisoned in Russia since February, will not be granted.
On Thursday, the basketball player was sentenced to nine years in prison for "trafficking cannabis", causing shock in the United States, in the world of sport and beyond.
But how did we get here?
Why is Brittney Griner imprisoned?
On February 17, the 31-year-old player from New York was checked at Moscow-Sheremetyevo airport for possession of a cannabis-based vaporizer liquid.
Problem: Authorized in the United States, this product is considered illegal in Russia.
The sportswoman is arrested and then risks up to ten years in prison, the maximum sentence for this kind of offense, according to local law.
The pivot of the Phoenix Mercury pleads guilty, but explains having brought this substance inadvertently, refuting any drug trafficking.
In mid-March, the Russian news agency TASS announced that his detention was extended at least until May 19.
But what was the double Olympic champion, a native of Texas, doing in Russia?
She was actually joining her second team, UMMC Yekaterinburg, with which she has been playing part of the season since 2016.
A time of year when the WNBA, the female equivalent of the NBA, where it plays, is in a period of truce.
A very heavy sentence
The sentence fell this Thursday, at the end of the afternoon: Brittney Griner was found guilty of "cannabis trafficking" and sentenced to nine years in prison, a sentence accompanied by a fine of one million rubles
(about 16 000 euros)
.
A judgment in accordance with the requisitions of the prosecutor Nikolaï Vlassenko, at the court of Khimki, near Moscow.
The American player receives almost the maximum sentence, set at ten years in prison.
Read also“At the center of a political game that is beyond her”: why America is worried about Brittney Griner, detained in Russia
The prosecutor assured that she had knowingly tried to "hide" this cannabis-based liquid from customs officers at the airport.
The American had asked the court not to agree on this requisition: "I never wanted to hurt anyone, I never intended to put the Russian population in danger, or breaking the law here.
I made an honest mistake and I hope the judgment will not end my life.
In the wake of her conviction, the basketball player announced that she was appealing this “senseless” court decision, according to her lawyers.
Biden 'calls on Russia to release her immediately'
US President Joe Biden has deemed the conviction of the American player "unacceptable".
"I call on Russia to release her immediately so that she can reunite with her wife, relatives and teammates," he said in a statement.
In the sports world, the WNBA, associated with the NBA, reacted to this “unfair and regrettable” judgment, adding that “the verdict (…) was predictable, and that Brittney remains wrongfully detained.
For his Phoenix Mercury franchise, his sentencing marks a "significant milestone" in the "168-day nightmare our sister has endured."
We will not allow it to be forgotten.
»
42 second moment of silence for Brittney Griner🧡 pic.twitter.com/JblA02BiJP
— WNBA (@WNBA) August 4, 2022
Before the start of a championship match against the Connecticut Sun, the players of both teams observed 42 seconds of silence, in a show of support for the one who usually wears this number on her jersey.
A #FreeBG
(free Brittney Griner)
hashtag quickly spread across social media.
A means of pressure for Moscow?
“A political pawn”.
It is in these terms that Lindsay Kagawa Colas, her agent, qualifies Brittney Griner.
Since July 28, the two countries have been seeking common ground for an exchange of prisoners.
This Thursday, the White House "urged" Russia to accept its "serious offer" to obtain the return to the United States of the basketball player and, it seems, two other nationals.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had already mentioned a "substantial offer to Moscow" from Washington.
For Jean de Gliniasty, former French ambassador to Moscow and researcher specializing in Russian issues, this case is a classic pattern: "It's a hostage-taking, as in the Cold War period, which recalls the heyday of the East-West opposition.
Brittney Griner is an instrument of exchange, ”he analyzes.
Read alsoSoft power and arms sales: how Russia seeks to expand its influence in the world
The hypothetical transaction seems in any case very unequal: Viktor Bout, a Russian prisoner in the United States, would enter into the deal.
He is one of the biggest arms traffickers, nicknamed the “merchant of death”.
Arrested in Thailand in 2008, the one who would have inspired the film “Lord of War” is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence after a conviction in 2012. Very far from what Brittney Griner is accused of…
“It's unfair,” continues Jean de Gliniasty, “but the basketball player is a national figure in the United States and the pressure of public opinion prevails.
The other two American prisoners who could benefit from this exchange are Paul Whelan and Marc Fogel, respectively arrested for "espionage" and trafficking in "large-scale cannabis."
The head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, confirmed on Friday that Russia was "ready to discuss this subject" but no agreement has been reached for the moment.
