WNBA star Brittney Griner, 32, has been detained in Russia since February after illegal cannibas oil was allegedly found in her luggage by officials at a Moscow airport.
Her detainment occurred shortly before Russia launched its war in Ukraine, with geopolitical tensions making it undoubtedly more difficult to secure her release.
Ms Griner’s family, friends and fans – alongside many public figures – have been calling on Russia to free her for months and for the US State Department to intervene.
She pleaded guilty to drug charges in July before being sentenced to nine years behind bars the following month.
An appeal hearing in Russian court was held on Tuesday. Despite Maria Blagovolina, one of the lawyers representing Ms Griner, arguing that the “punishment imposed on Griner does not correspond to the gravity of the crime,” a Russian court denied Ms Griner’s appeal to reduce her prison sentence.
Here's everything we know about the ordeal:
Who is Brittney Griner?
Ms Griner plays for the Phoenix Mercury WNBA team as a centre.
She also formerly competed with the US Olympic basketball team in 2016 winning gold at the Rio Games and picking up her second winner’s medal in Tokyo last summer.
She is an accomplished basketball player, earning a Best Female Athlete award at the ESPYs and an endorsement deal with Nike in 2013.
What happened?
On 17 February, Ms Griner was traveling through the Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow when Russian customs officials allegedly found cartridges containing the offending hashish oil in her luggage.
Ms Griner was taken into custody at the airport on charges of large-scale transportation of illegal narcotics, which carried a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
Her trial began on 1 July with the Russian government presenting evidence that the WNBA star “bought two cartridges for personal use, which contained 0.252 grams and 0.45 grams of hash oil,” according to a courtroom report from state news agency Tass.
The trial resumed on 7 July, with Ms Griner clutching a photo of her wife Cherelle as she told a judge she would plead guilty, according to reporters in the courtroom.
“I’d like to plead guilty, your honour. But there was no intent. I didn’t want to break the law,” Ms Griner said, speaking English which was then translated into Russian for the court.
“I’d like to give my testimony later. I need time to prepare.”
In early August, Ms Griner was sentenced to nine years behind bars. She filed an appeal of her conviction, which was taken up at a hearing on 25 October. At that appeal, a Russian court upheld their sentence with a prosecutor calling it “fair.”
Why was she in Russia?
Ms Griner had been in Russia to play basketball in the Russian Premier League.
Many American athletes travel overseas during the US off-season to continue competing in their chosen sport.
The off-season foreign leagues provide American athletes with additional money-making opportunities and a chance to keep their skills sharp through continuous competition.
WNBA stars like Ms Griner typically make, on average, a mere 1.5 per cent of the salary that their male counterparts in the NBA make in a year, so playing outside of the US often helps make up for that pay disparity.
Ms Griner reportedly earns $1m per season she plays in Russia while her base salary at the Phoenix Mercury is said to be $221,450.
What is being done to help her?
Supporters of Ms Griner, alongside her family and friends, have been calling for her release for months.
In June, the White House offered to exchange Ms Griner and another detained American, Paul Whelan, for Viktor Bout, an infamous Russian arms dealer serving a federal prison sentence in the US for conspiring to sell arms to a Colombian rebel group deemed a terrorist organisation.
As of mid-September, US officials said Russia hasn’t responded to the offer.
“We have made a serious offer to get Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan back home,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on 16 September. “The Russians have not responded to that offer. But that doesn’t mean that we’re not still in negotiations and we’re not still trying.”
Mr Kirby made the comments just before President Joe Biden met with Ms Griner’s family, including her wife Cherelle.
“I want to thank President Biden for yesterday’s meeting as well as the Administration for its efforts to secure my wife’s release,” Cherelle Griner wrote in the caption of an Instagram post with a photo of herself and the president. “It was an honor to speak with him directly about the Brittney we know and love. I’ve felt every minute of the grueling seven months without her. I look forward to the day my wife is back home.”
“As my family and I continue on this journey, I’d like to thank the broad coalition of friends, leaders and supporters who continue to stand with us and advocate for Brittney’s swift and safe return,” she added. “Let’s share a unified commitment to bringing all Americans home to their families and loved ones.”
Ms Griner addressed Mr Biden directly in a letter prior to her July trial, writing: “As I sit here in a Russian prison, alone with my thoughts and without the protection of my wife, family, friends, Olympic jersey, or any accomplishments, I’m terrified I might be here forever.”
That feeling has intensified for Ms Griner as her period of incerceration has stretched into the fall. Despite purported US efforts to negociate her release, Ms Griner remains in prison in Russia and is reportedly worried that she will have to serve the entirety of her nine year sentence there.
Ms Griner’s lawyer, Alexandr Boykov, toldThe New York Times that his client “has not been in as good condition as I could sometimes find her in” in recent weeks.
In an interview on CNN on Tuesday, Mr Biden said that he would consider meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin at the G-20 summit if the meeting were set to discuss Ms Griner’s freedom.
“Look, I have no intention of meeting with him,” Mr Biden said. “But for example, if he came to me at the G-20 and said, ‘I want to talk about the release of Griner,’ I’d meet with him. I mean, it would depend.” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre later said that Mr Biden does not intend to meet with Mr Putin and that he believes the Russians “need to take the serious offer that we put forward on the table, or make a serious counter-offer to negotiate, but in good faith.”
