Russian court jails US basketball player Brittney Griner for nine years on drug charges

A Moscow court has convicted the US basketball player Brittney Griner on drug charges, sentencing her to nine years in prison and a 1m rouble fine in a politically charged verdict that could lead to a prisoner swap with the US.

Her arrest took place days before Russia invaded Ukraine, prompting frantic backdoor negotiations between the US and Russian intelligence services as her trial played out in a small courthouse just outside the Moscow city limits.

Her formal conviction, which was a foregone conclusion, is a necessary step if a prisoner exchange is to take place. US officials say Russia wants to swap Griner and Paul Whelan, a former US marine arrested on spying charges in 2020, for the convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout.

She also rejected the political implications of her case, making an emotional appeal directly to the judge, Anna Sotnikova.

Her legal team also said they would not engage in the political aspects of the case, saying that was up to the US embassy and government.

A conviction is usually required in cases that could lead to a prisoner exchange, because it would allow the Kremlin to issue a pardon or reduce a sentence without blatantly interfering in an ongoing trial.

He was arrested at a luxury hotel in Bangkok in a US sting operation and was sentenced in 2012 to 25 years in prison. His case has become an unlikely cause célèbre among some senior Russian officials.

Russia has already exchanged Trevor Reed, a former marine arrested in Moscow, for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a pilot who was held for nearly a decade in the US on a drug smuggling conviction. The exchange at an airfield in Turkey recalled a cold war thriller, as the two men walked past each other to board planes back to their respective countries.