Brittney Griner: Russian Court Upholds Nine-year Sentence

Emily Wolfe 

Europe and Human Rights Researcher,

Global Human Rights Defence

USA women’s Basketball star Brittney Griner has attempted to appeal her 9-year sentence for possessing and smuggling vape cartridges containing cannabisoil into Russia. Her appeal team asked for acquittal or at least a reduction in her sentence, which they said was disproportionate to the offence and at odds with Russian judicial practice (Associated Press, 2022). 

Griner is a two-time Olympic gold medallist, and an eight-time all-star centre with the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury. She was arrested at the Moscow Airport on the 17th of February – 7 days before Russia invaded Ukraine – for possessing vape cartridges which contained cannabis oil (which are banned in Russia). In August, she was sentenced to nine years in a penal colony. 

Former prisoners and human rights advocates  have come out in support of Griner, stating that she will face very difficult conditions at the Penal Colony (NBC, 2022). A 2021 US State  Department report highlighted the many human rights abuses which are common in Russian Penal colonies, stating “Conditions in prisons and detention centers varied but were often harsh and life threatening […] Overcrowding, abuse by guards and inmates, limited access to health care, food shortages, and inadequate sanitation were common in prisons, penal colonies, and other detention facilities.” (S. Rep., 2021). 

Griner’s Penal Colony will likely be a repurposed Soviet gulag – a forced labor camp and prison system that incarcerated millions in the 1920s and 1950s. Typically such compounds are found in the far northern and eastern reaches of Russia as part of a unique system that aims to both imprison and exile convicts, according to an Amnesty Internationalreport published last year (Amnesty International, 2017).

Pussy Riot band member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova was held in one of these Penal Camps, where she provided some insight into in a letter to a Russian media outlet. She described working up to 17-hour days in a sewing shop, sleep deprivation, freezing conditions, a lack of basic hygiene, dangerous and humiliating working conditions, and regular assaults on other prisoners (Lenta.ru, 2013).

The conditions have not changed much since then, says Trevor Reed, another U.S. citizen who spent close to two years in a Russian penal colony until the Biden administration was able to negotiate his release. Griner’s family, friends, lawyers, and agent alike are all hoping for a similar outcome for Brittney, and for her to be brought  home soon (NBC, 2022).

Sources and further reading:

Associated Press. (2022, October 25). Brittney Griner's appeal against her nine-year prison sentence rejected by Russian court. Sky News. Retrieved October 28, 2022, from https://www.skysports.com/nba/news/36226/12711379/brittney-griner-wnba-stars-appeal-date-for-drug-conviction-in-russia-set-for-october-25

Phil McCausland and Curtis Bunn. (2022, October 27). Griner faces difficult conditions at Russian penal colony, former prisoners and advocates say. NBC News. Retrieved 28 October 2022, from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/griner-russian-penal-colony-difficult-prisoners-say-rcna54180

1. Rep. No. 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Russia (2021).

Amnesty International. 2017. (n.d.). PRISONER TRANSPORTATION IN RUSSIA: TRAVELLING INTO THE UNKNOWN (Rep.). Amnesty International.

Lenta.ru (23 September 2013). "вы теперь всегда будете наказаны" "Лента.ру" публикует письмо Надежды Толоконниковой из мордовской исправительной колонии. (n.d.). Retrieved October 29, 2022, from https://lenta.ru/articles/2013/09/23/tolokonnikova/