Women’s basketball star Brittney Griner questions if she’ll get home to the US any time soon from a dingy Russian jail cell where she’s languished for roughly nine months.
“She isn’t yet absolutely convinced that America will find a way to take her home,” her lawyer Alexander Boykov told the Recent York Times recently.
“She may be very frightened about what the value of that will probably be, and he or she is afraid that she is going to must serve the entire sentence here in Russia.”
Griner was hit with a surprising nine-year prison sentence after she pleaded guilty to drug possession in a Russian court in August.
She goes outside for an hour every day in a tiny courtyard with the remainder of her time spent inside a cramped cell with two other cellmates in a penal colony outside Moscow, her lawyer told the Times.
“It’s an old constructing, and product of stone,” Boykov reportedly said of her current location. “When it’s hot outside, it’s too hot, and when it’s cold outside, it is just too cold.”
Emotionally, she isn’t doing well on the penal complex and fears she can be moved to a jail with inhumane conditions, the Times reported.
“She has not been in nearly as good condition as I could sometimes find her in,” Boykov reportedly said.
Boykov added her suffering has been compounded by her difficulty to speak along with her family, including her wife Cherelle, and her parents and siblings, in line with the Times.
The 6-foot-9 WNBA center, who has eight all-star appearances and two Olympic gold medals, was stopped in a Moscow airport on Feb. 17 after authorities found vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage.
An appeal on her sentence is scheduled for Oct. 25.
Boykov said the nine-year sentence is “an unprecedented punishment” over marijuana possession.
“Perhaps the decision will one way or the other be modified and, perhaps, the sentence will probably be reduced, because the choice taken by the primary court may be very different from judicial practice,” he told the Times.
“Considering all of the circumstances, considering my client’s personality traits and her act of contrition, such a verdict ought to be absolutely unattainable.”
There’s been talk of a prisoner swap to bring Griner and one other American home.
Reports over the summer indicated the US could ship Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout back to Russia in exchange for Griner and Paul Whelan, who has been serving a 16-year sentence after he was convicted of espionage, a charge he denies.
Bout, dubbed “The Merchant of Death” is serving a 25-year sentence within the US.
The US government has maintained that Griner was wrongfully detained.
Women’s basketball star Brittney Griner questions if she’ll get home to the US any time soon from a dingy Russian jail cell where she’s languished for roughly nine months.
“She isn’t yet absolutely convinced that America will find a way to take her home,” her lawyer Alexander Boykov told the Recent York Times recently.
“She may be very frightened about what the value of that will probably be, and he or she is afraid that she is going to must serve the entire sentence here in Russia.”
Griner was hit with a surprising nine-year prison sentence after she pleaded guilty to drug possession in a Russian court in August.
She goes outside for an hour every day in a tiny courtyard with the remainder of her time spent inside a cramped cell with two other cellmates in a penal colony outside Moscow, her lawyer told the Times.
“It’s an old constructing, and product of stone,” Boykov reportedly said of her current location. “When it’s hot outside, it’s too hot, and when it’s cold outside, it is just too cold.”
Emotionally, she isn’t doing well on the penal complex and fears she can be moved to a jail with inhumane conditions, the Times reported.
“She has not been in nearly as good condition as I could sometimes find her in,” Boykov reportedly said.
Boykov added her suffering has been compounded by her difficulty to speak along with her family, including her wife Cherelle, and her parents and siblings, in line with the Times.
The 6-foot-9 WNBA center, who has eight all-star appearances and two Olympic gold medals, was stopped in a Moscow airport on Feb. 17 after authorities found vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage.
An appeal on her sentence is scheduled for Oct. 25.
Boykov said the nine-year sentence is “an unprecedented punishment” over marijuana possession.
“Perhaps the decision will one way or the other be modified and, perhaps, the sentence will probably be reduced, because the choice taken by the primary court may be very different from judicial practice,” he told the Times.
“Considering all of the circumstances, considering my client’s personality traits and her act of contrition, such a verdict ought to be absolutely unattainable.”
There’s been talk of a prisoner swap to bring Griner and one other American home.
Reports over the summer indicated the US could ship Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout back to Russia in exchange for Griner and Paul Whelan, who has been serving a 16-year sentence after he was convicted of espionage, a charge he denies.
Bout, dubbed “The Merchant of Death” is serving a 25-year sentence within the US.
The US government has maintained that Griner was wrongfully detained.
