US Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) basketball player Brittney Griner, who was detained at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport and later charged with illegal possession of cannabis, waits for the verdict inside a defendants' cage during a hearing in Khimki outside Moscow, on August 4, 2022. - A Russian court found Griner guilty of smuggling and storing narcotics after prosecutors requested a sentence of nine and a half years in jail for the athlete. (Photo by EVGENIA NOVOZHENINA / POOL / AFP) (Photo by EVGENIA NOVOZHENINA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Brittney Griner’s lawyer has opened up about her living conditions in a Russian prison, which is heartbreaking. In a recent interview with The New York Post, her lawyer, Alexandr D. Boykov, explained that the NBA baller facing nine years behind bars “has not been in as good condition as I could sometimes find her in.” He detailed that Ms. Griner is allowed outside once a day. During that time, she walks for an hour in a small courtyard at a penal colony outside Moscow.
He added that she spends the rest of her time in a small cell with two cellmates, sitting and sleeping on a specially elongated bed to accommodate her 6-foot-9 frame. Brittney has been jailed for ninth months and is increasingly anxious about her chances of being freed in a prisoner swap and struggling emotionally, one of her lawyers said.
Although Brittney has a hearing about the appeal of her conviction scheduled for October 25th, the basketball star isn’t optimistic about coming home. “She is not yet absolutely convinced that America will be able to take her home,” said Alexandr. The lawyer added that he spoke with his client saying, “She is very worried about what the price of that will be, and she is afraid that she will have to serve the whole sentence here in Russia.”
Alexandr hopes Brittney’s nine-year sentence, which he called “an unprecedented punishment” for marijuana possession, would be reduced. He said, “Perhaps the verdict will somehow be changed and, perhaps, the sentence will be reduced because the decision taken by the first court is very different from judicial practice,” he said. “Considering all the circumstances, taking into account my client’s personality traits and her admission of guilt, such a verdict should be absolutely impossible.”
Roommates, we’ll keep you posted as the hearing approaches!
