On Tuesday, a Russian court denied WNBA star Brittney Griner’s plea for a reduced sentence, which means the All-Star basketball player will have to spend her nine-year sentence for drug use and smuggling at a Russian correctional colony unless US politicians negotiate her release.
Griner explained her case to the panel of three judges assessing her fate during a virtual in-court hearing.
“I was barely over the significant amount [of cannabis oil]. People with more severe crimes have gotten less than what I was given,” she said. “I did not intend to do this.”
Griner conveyed her dissatisfaction with the court’s decision in the days leading up to her hearing on Tuesday through her counsel.
Griner has had a difficult year. Her case occurred amid the backdrop of a conflict between Ukraine and Russia, as well as a strained relationship between Russia and the United States. The 32-year-old top player was detained at Sheremetyevo Airport near Moscow only two weeks before Russian soldiers invaded Ukraine in February after customs discovered less than a gram of cannabis oil in her luggage. She was whisked away from the scene and has since been held in Russian custody. Griner pled guilty to the narcotics counts, which carried a maximum jail term of 10 years.
Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison in August, after months of delay.
President Joe Biden has urged Russia to free Griner, and the US State Department has stated that he is being “wrongfully detained.” Biden proposed meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 Summit in November only if Griner’s release was discussed.