US basketball star freed in prisoner swap with Russia: What is the Brittney Griner case

What is the Brittney Griner case?

In August this year, Russia convicted Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medallist, of possessing and smuggling narcotics, sentencing her to 9 years in prison and a fine of 1 million rouble. While US President Joe Biden accused Russia of detaining Griner unlawfully, many others said the sentence was disproportionately harsh, coming at a time when Russia-US ties are at a historic low amid the Ukraine war.

Griner had been in detention since February, when two vape cartridges containing small amounts of cannabis oil were found in her luggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport. While she pleaded guilty, the athlete said she had carried the cannabis unintentionally as she had packed in a hurry.

Griner’s case got unprecedented attention – she is a high-profile, Black, gay athlete, and her detention in a country with often hostile atitudes towards the LGBTQ community sparked massive concern.

That the US government was willing to free Bout, charged with trying to sell arms to be used against the country, is an indication of the pressure on the Biden administration to bring Griner home. Read our detailed profile of Viktor Bout here.

Griner’s career as player

As reported earlier by The Indian Express, Griner, 31, was selected in 2021 as one of the best 25 players in the history of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), and is considered to be the best offensive player in the league.

Since she began her professional career in 2013, the 6 feet 9 inches player has won two Olympic gold medals with the US women’s national basketball team and a WNBA Championship. Griner came out as a lesbian in 2013, and was the first openly gay athlete to sign an endoresment deal with Nike.

Her detention also attracted attention to the reason she was in Russia in the first place – she was playing for UMMC Ekaterinburg, a Russian basketball team. Many WNBA athletes choose to play overseas because of the massive pay disparity compared to their male counterparts in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The minimum pay of an NBA player with one year’s experience is projected at $1.637 million, higher than the salary budget of an entire WNBA team, which is capped at $1.4 million, according to the Boston Globe.

The man left behind

While Griner has been freed, Paul Whelan, a Michigan corporate security executive jailed in Russia since December 2018 on espionage charges, will remain in Russia for now. While the US has called his arrest unlawful, and negotiations were on to release him along with Griner, those attempts remained unsuccessful.