Russian Court Sentences Griner to 9 Years, Raising Pressure on Biden

A Russian court docket on Thursday sentenced the American basketball star Brittney Griner to 9 years in a penal colony after convicting her on a drug cost, a harsh penalty that retains her destiny entwined with the geopolitical showdown over the struggle in Ukraine and ramps up already intense stress on President Biden to win her launch.

The U.S. authorities contends that she is amongst a number of Individuals who’ve been “wrongfully detained” by Russia, used as bargaining chips within the more and more hostile relationship between Moscow and Washington. The Biden administration has supplied a prisoner swap involving Ms. Griner, however Russian officers stated it was untimely to debate a deal whereas her case was underway.

Now that the trial is concluded, Mr. Biden faces a troublesome alternative between standing agency on his proposal to commerce for Ms. Griner and one other American, Paul N. Whelan, or sweetening the supply someway, with both place liable to attract home criticism.

In the meantime the Kremlin can use them as leverage, with no incentive to resolve the circumstances shortly. Her supporters, voicing horror on the verdict and sentence, are clamoring for the president to do one thing, whereas the administration is cautious of giving in to Russian techniques it has all however labeled as blackmail.

“My administration will proceed to work tirelessly and pursue each doable avenue to deliver Brittney and Paul Whelan house safely as quickly as doable,” Mr. Biden stated in a press release after the decision.

Ms. Griner, 31, one in every of her sport’s largest world stars, sat largely expressionless, eyes downcast, leaning her lengthy body towards the bars of the defendant’s field in a cramped courtroom outdoors Moscow to listen to because the phrases of the decide, Anna S. Sotnikova, had been quietly translated for her. She had already pleaded responsible and conviction is all however sure in Russian courts, so the decision was a foregone conclusion; the actual query was about sentencing.

The reply was devastating. The sentence was close to the 10-year most for her conviction for trying to smuggle narcotics into the nation, based mostly on two vape cartridges containing cannabis oil present in Ms. Griner’s baggage when she arrived in February, every week earlier than Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, despatched his forces pouring over the border into Ukraine.

She and her authorized workforce had hoped for a extra lenient penalty based mostly on her responsible plea, her assertion that she had not meant to take the cartridges to Russia, and testimony that she used the substance legally in the USA to handle ache.

“I made an sincere mistake, and I hope that in your ruling that it doesn’t finish my life right here,” she stated earlier than the sentencing.

She informed the court docket that whereas she took accountability for her actions, “I had no intent to interrupt Russian regulation.” She stated that after recovering from a bout of Covid, she had packed hurriedly to rejoin the Russian workforce she performs for within the W.N.B.A. low season, and had unintentionally left the cartridges in her baggage.

“I do know that everyone retains speaking about political pawn and politics,” she added, “however I hope that’s removed from that courtroom.”

Ms. Griner’s protection workforce known as the ruling “completely unreasonable,” stated the court docket had “fully ignored all of the proof of the protection, and most significantly, the responsible plea,” and vowed to enchantment. Elizabeth Rood, the deputy chief of mission on the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, attended the court docket session and known as the consequence “a miscarriage of justice.”

Russian officers have insisted that Ms. Griner’s case is solely the justice system operating its course, with no political overtones — a declare that their American counterparts and plenty of Western analysts dismissed as absurd.

William Pomeranz, a Russia skilled and performing director of the Kennan Institute, a analysis group in Washington, famous that Ms. Griner was sentenced to not a jail however to a penal colony, which tends to imply a extra distant location — many are in Siberia — and harsher circumstances.

“She’s most likely going to go to a penal colony that’s in the midst of Russia the place she gained’t know anyone,” he added. “They gained’t be capable of come and go to. Penal colonies can typically be very extreme. It will likely be an incredible check of her psychological state if she finally ends up going to a penal colony.”

America has few choices, he stated. “It’s going to simply rely on the Russians and how briskly they need to make a deal.”

Fellow basketball gamers, female and male, and basketball executives took to social media to voice assist for Ms. Griner and grief on the verdict. Ms. Griner’s workforce, the Phoenix Mercury, stated in a press release: “We stay heartbroken for her, as we’ve got daily for practically six months. We stay grateful to and assured within the public servants working daily to return her to her household and us.”

With Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the indiscriminate destruction it has prompted, relations between Washington and Moscow are extra confrontational and bitter than they’ve been in a long time. America has rallied the West to ship arms and different assist to Ukraine, and to punish Moscow with financial sanctions, searching for alternatives to ratchet up the stress.

The 2 sides have made prisoner exchanges earlier than, most not too long ago in April, when Russia launched Trevor R. Reed, an American held on what his household stated was a bogus assault cost, in return for a Russian pilot convicted in the USA of cocaine trafficking prices. However not often have proposed swaps come amid such rigidity, or concerned anybody as distinguished as Ms. Griner.

In an indication of how excessive the stakes are for Washington, Ms. Griner’s destiny was among the many matters mentioned final Friday by Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Russia’s international minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, of their first direct dialog since earlier than the invasion.

The Biden administration has supplied to commerce Ms. Griner and Mr. Whelan for Viktor Bout, who’s serving a 25-year sentence for a 2011 conviction on a federal cost of conspiring to promote weapons to individuals posing as terrorists intent on killing Individuals. Mr. Whelan, detained in Russia since 2018, was convicted of espionage and sentenced to 16 years.

Russia made an unspecified “dangerous religion” counteroffer, the White Home stated on Monday, which U.S. officers stated they didn’t think about severe.

John Kirby, spokesman for the Nationwide Safety Council, informed reporters on Thursday, “I don’t suppose it might be useful to Brittney or to Paul for us to speak extra publicly about the place we’re within the talks and what the president may or may not be keen to do.”

“Conversations are ongoing at varied ranges,” he added.

If Mr. Biden sticks to his preliminary supply, he may face accusations of not doing sufficient.

Ms. Griner’s spouse, Cherelle Griner, and different supporters have mounted an efficient public marketing campaign to stress the president to win her launch. Supporters fear about her therapy in a rustic the place anti-American and anti-gay vitriol are deeply embedded in widespread views and official propaganda. Pictures of a grim-faced Ms. Griner being led, handcuffed, out and in of court docket, towering over her armed guards, have turn into commonplace in U.S. and worldwide media.

The administration may make a extra enticing supply, however U.S. officers already fear that offers for prisoners may encourage hostile international governments to detain Individuals on trumped-up prices in trade for concessions like releasing their very own wrongdoers. Some Republicans have already complained that Mr. Biden’s current supply creates such an incentive.

A 6-foot-9 middle, Ms. Griner gained a university nationwide championship with Baylor in 2012, a W.N.B.A. championship with the Mercury in 2014, Olympic gold medals with the U.S. workforce on the 2016 and 2020 video games, and 4 EuroLeague championships with the Russian workforce UMMC Yekaterinburg. Like many gamers within the W.N.B.A., the place salaries are a lot decrease than within the N.B.A., Ms. Griner — who additionally performed one season for knowledgeable workforce in China — has performed abroad to complement her earnings.

Reporting was contributed by Michael Crowley, Jonathan Abrams and Tania Ganguli.