Two-time Olympic champion and WNBA star middle for the Phoenix Mercury, Brittney Griner, has been arrested and detained by Russian customs authorities, who cite the discovering of “vape cartridges containing cannabis oil” in her baggage whereas she was touring by an airport close to Moscow. Though it simply hit the information a pair days in the past, Griner has been detained for nearly 1 month now and he or she faces as much as 10 years in jail if discovered responsible on trumped-up fees of “drug smuggling”.
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Who’s Brittney Griner and why was she in Russia?
Brittney Griner is a 31-year-old skilled basketball participant in the US. She’s one among most well-known and highest-scoring gamers within the WNBA. Griner is a seven-time All Star who has gained two Olympic gold medals with the US, a WNBA championship with the Mercury, and a nationwide championship at Baylor College in Texas.
Why Griner was even in Russia to start with highlights the large fee disparity between the WNBA and the NBA. Now, earlier than we chock it as much as nothing however blatant sexism, the reasoning is barely extra complicated than that. As with principally all main industries, all of it boils right down to profitability. The NBA generates a median of $9.2 billion in annual income by promoting tickets and merchandise, whereas the WNBA solely pulls in about $75 million annually. Common paychecks replicate this, with male gamers incomes a wage of round $6.4 million and feminine gamers getting about $78,000 on common.
The half the place wage variations really do develop into considerably biased, is in the way in which earnings are dispersed. NBA gamers get to maintain 50 p.c of generated income whereas WNBA gamers solely get to maintain about 20 p.c. It’s not essentially truthful, however the truth of the matter is, the bulk of people that watch sports activities are males, and they’d fairly watch different males play. Males are additionally extra possible to purchase jerseys, hats, hoodies, and different merchandise with group logos than girls.
Due to these earnings inequalities, many WNBA gamers journey to different international locations and play on their groups in the course of the US off season, and Russia is likely one of the extra standard locations for this. In Russia, WNBA gamers can simply rake in over $1 million, and that is on high of their US salaries. Griner has been enjoying for UMMC Ekaterinburg since 2015, serving to her Russian group earn three home titles and 4 EuroLeague Ladies championships.
The arrest
Having stated all that, let’s focus once more on the arrest. Russian authorities launched a press release on Saturday, March fifth, that they’d detained an “American basketball participant” on drug fees. It wasn’t till later when the story had been picked up by media retailers that the athlete was recognized as Phoenix Mercury middle Brittney Griner. The Russian Federal Customs Service stated they’d detained Brittney after drug canines sniffed out some hashish oil vape carts in her baggage at Sheremetyevo airport close to Moscow.
The video launched by Russia’s Customs Service confirmed footage of a traveler (Brittney Griner) strolling by the airport safety screening space, after which somebody inspecting a bundle shortly after which was faraway from her bag. Primarily based on the video timestamps, this occurred again in February, that means that Brittney has been in custody for a couple of weeks already. View the obtainable footage under.
In a press release to the Guardian, Griner’s agent Lindsay Colas stated: “We’re conscious of the state of affairs with Brittney Griner in Russia and are in shut contact along with her, her authorized illustration in Russia, her household, her groups, and the WNBA and NBA.”
The Customs Service acknowledged {that a} “legal case had been opened into the large-scale transportation of medicine”, which carries a sentence of as much as 10 years in jail if convicted. This isn’t the primary time an American has been arrested in Russia for specious fees, however the present state of affairs makes this case significantly sketchy, even for somebody who has a profitable athletic profession within the nation.
Hashish legal guidelines in Russia
To rapidly summarize hashish legal guidelines in Russia – it’s unlawful. Nonetheless, just like many different international locations and even US states, small quantities of product have been decriminalized for private use since 2004. In Russia, it’s as much as 6 grams of flower or 2 grams of hash. Decriminalization in Russia means this is able to be handled merely as an administrative offence, punishable however a positive or as much as 15 days in jail.
That is all outlined in Article 228 of the Russian Legal Code. Although this doesn’t qualify for decriminalization by technical requirements used somewhere else, it does reduce the authorized penalties for those that are utilizing hashish personally. Something over the above listed quantities would topic an individual to legal prosecution.
So in case you had been questioning why on earth anybody would journey to Russia with vape carts, it’s possible as a result of Griner has been touring there for nearly a decade at this level, and was acquainted with the truth that the nation had decriminalized a pair grams of focus. I couldn’t discover it acknowledged wherever how a lot hashish oil she was caught with, and it’s onerous to say what the specifics are on THC oils since that may be a completely different product from hash.
Is Brittney at risk?
Politicians, fellow athletes, activists, and buddies of Brittney’s are calling for her launch amid rising fears that Vladimir Putin may use her as a pawn for leverage in the course of the ongoing battle in Ukraine and as tensions with Russia and the remainder of the world proceed to accentuate. Texas congresswoman, Sheila Jackson Lee, who represents Griner’s hometown of Houston, had this to say on the matter:
“We all know that there have been some points coping with vape cartridges and different objects however let me be very clear, Brittney Griner is a United States citizen, she was a visitor in Russia … and I can be demanding her launch.”
Once more, some worry that the state of affairs may develop into much more fraught for Brittney, like former US deputy assistant secretary of protection for Russia and Ukraine Evelyn Farkas. “If we wish her out of jail, Russia goes to have some phrases,” stated Farkas. “It might be a prisoner swap. Additionally they may use it as an implicit menace or blackmail to get us to do one thing or not do one thing. Both method, they discover it helpful.”
Figuring out what we find out about Brittney (excessive profile US citizen, African-American, feminine, queer), and figuring out what we find out about Russia (hostile, presently embroiled in worldwide battle, authorities that’s identified to commit many human rights violations in opposition to minorities, LGBTQ, and ladies), it’s inside cause to imagine that Brittney is perhaps in a harmful state of affairs as we converse.
For instance, in an interview with BBC, quite a few folks of coloration residing in Russia described how they had been handled frequently – which ranged from informal racism to bodily assaults and systemic points that impression varied quality-of-life facets. Examples embody being barred from some rental properties and jobs, denied entry into eating places and different companies, racial slurs, and so forth. The state of affairs with racism will be particularly dicey for individuals who have been arrested, detained, or incarcerated.
Now, let’s look at how girls are sometimes handled in Russia. In 2017, a regulation was handed that decriminalized first offenses of domestic battery and in 2018, the Russian authorities statistics company recorded a complete of 8,300 girls murdered within the nation. That comes out to a median of 22 per day. And the state of affairs is claimed to have grown worse for the reason that pandemic started. Evaluate that to the UK common of 1 lady killed each three days, and also you understand how large an issue that is. Efforts to guard Russian girls are sometimes seen by conservative lawmakers as “an infringement on the rights of the household”.
Add to all this, Brittney is a lesbian, and Russia is understood to have among the strictest anti-LGBTQ legal guidelines in your entire world. In Russia, homosexual marriage is unlawful, but it surely goes even additional than that. Many citizens aren’t open to these within the LGBTQ group, stating that they’d not settle for them as neighbors or colleagues and really feel they’re a menace to conventional methods of life. LGBTQ folks residing in Russia face common threats, bullying, bodily and sexual abuse, abuse inside their households, and discrimination in each day life. The 2013 “gay propaganda” regulation has elevated that social hostility tenfold.
“It taking three weeks for Brittney Griner’s detention in Russia to hit the information right here is absurd and horrifying in a method that’s tough to grasp. Russia has among the most anti-LGBTQ legal guidelines amongst main nations. It can’t be overstated the hazard she’s in proper now.” – Charlotte Clymer, American activist, press secretary, and author, stated on Twitter.
Last ideas
Though these teams are largely underrepresented, girls, minorities, and LGBTQ have all performed pivotal roles making the hashish trade what it’s at present. Regardless of the various historic and political similarities, there may be little or no dialogue concerning the ties between all of those teams and the struggle to legalize hashish within the US. They’re additionally typically the individuals who endure most from prohibition and the battle on medicine.
Even throughout calmer occasions, the environment in Russia could be a bit tense – very true if you’re a girl, minority, or LGBTQ; and all three are relevant in Brittney Griner’s case. To not point out that Brittney is a high-profile detainee being held throughout a interval of nice political turbulence, making her state of affairs all of the extra dire. The significance of bringing Brittney house can’t be emphasised sufficient.
Colas, Griner’s agent, stated in her assertion, “As that is an ongoing authorized matter, we’re not capable of remark additional on the specifics of her case however can verify that as we work to get her house, her psychological and bodily well being stay our major concern.”