A Russian court rejected an appeal against her nine-year sentence last month. The eight-time All-Star center with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and two-time Olympic gold medalist was sentenced Aug. 4 after police said they found vapor cans containing cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.
Her arrest came at a time of rising tensions between Moscow and Washington, days before Russia sent troops to Ukraine and the politically charged case could lead to a high-risk prisoner exchange between Washington and Moscow.
Griner’s legal team said she left a detention center on Nov. 4 for a penal colony — a common type of Russian prison where inmates work for minimal pay. Her lawyers said Wednesday that they did not know exactly where she was or where she would end up – but that they expected to be notified when she reached her final destination. Such transfers can take days.
The 32-year-old star athlete, who was detained while returning to play for a Russian team during the WNBA offseason, admitted to having the canisters in her luggage. But he testified that he had accidentally collected them in a hurry and that he had no criminal intent. Her defense team presented written statements that she had been prescribed cannabis to treat pain.
“Every minute Brittney Griner has to endure in illegal detention in Russia is a minute too long,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. “As we have said in the past, the US government has made a significant offer to the Russians to resolve the current unacceptable and unjust detentions of US citizens.”
The Associated Press and other news organizations reported that Washington had offered to swap Griner and Paul Whelan — an American serving a 16-year sentence in Russia for espionage — for Viktor Bout. Bout is a Russian arms dealer serving a 25-year sentence in the US and once earned the nickname “the dealer of death”.
