Brittney Griner Talks Russian Detainment in Emotional News Conference | Video

Moment WNBA star Brittney Griner was swapped for Russia's grinning Merchant of Death arms dealer Viktor Bout at Abu Dhabi airport in deal brokered by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince

Brittney Griner of the Phoenix Mercury speaks during a “Bring Our Families Home” press conference at Footprint Center on April 27, 2023, in Phoenix, Arizona. Griner was jailed in Russia for almost 10 months in 2022.

Brittney Griner got emotional while speaking about her Russian detainment during a press conference on Thursday.

The WNBA star spoke publicly to reporters for the first time since returning to the U.S. following her imprisonment in Russia, USA Today Sports reports.

Griner was arrested at Moscow Airport on Feb. 17, 2022, after customs officials allegedly found vape cartridges with hashish oil in her luggage. She traveled to Russia to play in the off-season but was ultimately convicted on drug smuggling charges and sentenced to 9 years in a Russian penal colony. She spent 10 months detained in the country before President Biden successfully negotiated her release in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. Griner returned to the U.S. in December. 

As the Daily Beast reports, Griner became emotional during Thursday’s news conference when asked what kind of “resilience” she relied upon while imprisoned overseas.

“I’m no stranger to hard times,” Griner told reporters. “Just digging deep, honestly. You’re gonna be faced with adversities throughout your life. This was a pretty big one. But I just, kind of, relied on my hard work, getting through it. I know this sounds so small, but dying in practice and just hard workouts—you find a way to just grind it out, just put your head down and keep going.”

Griner said she felt “forgotten” while detained at a Russian penal colony.

“It’s so easy to feel forgotten, to feel like no one is thinking of you. It’s hard. I come from a military family. … I have that mindset, no man left behind. … It hurts because no one should be in those conditions that I went through or that they are going through,” she explained.

The seven-time All-Star said looking at photos of her family “brought my hope back.

“Just being able to see their faces, that did it for me,” the Phoenix Mercury star continued. “In a moment where you want to give up, you look at the photos and it brings you back. You know what you’re waiting on—you’re waiting to be back with your family, with your loved ones in a safe place.”

Griner admitted during the news conference that getting back to playing form since her return home has been “a process.”

“Because as an athlete, you always want to be where you left off… And I wanted to be that player when I started back. Everybody is telling me to give myself grace, and it’s going to take time. But that’s the hardest thing to do to a pro athlete,” she said. 

Griner also made clear that she’ll never play overseas again. The two-time Olympic gold medalist said her one exception would be “representing my country at the Olympics.” She added, “If I make that team, that would be the only time I would leave U.S. soil and that’s to represent the USA.”

The Mercury will play the Seattle Storm on May 9.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Bad, Bad News: Brittney Griner Begins Transfer to Russian Penal Colony | WATCH

They heaped praise on Biden and said they were committed to getting Paul Whelan - and other Americans imprisoned overseas - out. 

'Today, we are breathing a deep sigh of relief. Brittney Griner is on her way home. 

'We are overwhelmed with gratitude to President Biden, Vice President Harris and the entire Biden-Harris Administration,' they said. 

Griner was playing in a Russian team when she was arrested. It was in a down-season from the WNBA, and stood to earn significantly more in Russia than she did in the US. 

She was caught with two cartridges of cannabis oil in a vape - a violation of Russia's strict drug laws - and was jailed. 

After a brief trial in Russian court in the summer, she was sentenced to nine years. 

The harsh sentence sent Griner's fans and celebrity friends into an uproar and Biden and Harris immediately vowed to bring her home. 

The suggestion of a swap for Bout was made quickly. 

But critics quickly asked why Griner - who broke the law and admits to it - should be freed.  

The most vocal critics asked why Griner should be swapped when Paul Whelan, who has been in prison for four years, has not.  Biden insists he is still trying to get Whelan out. 

The deal was brokered with Vladimir Putin, responsible for the genocide in Ukraine – and with the help of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, just 48 hours after the U.S. dropped a lawsuit holding him responsible for the murder of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Russia Denies Brittney Griner’s Appeal of 9-Year Sentence

US women’s basketball star Brittney Griner is in the process of being moved to a Russian penal colony where she is due to serve the remainder of a nine-year drug smuggling sentence that was upheld in late October.

Griner “is now on her way to a penal colony,” her attorneys said in a statement to CNN Wednesday.

“We do not have any information on her exact current location or her final destination,” said attorneys Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov.

“In accordance with the standard Russian procedure, the attorneys, as well as the US Embassy, should be notified upon her arrival at her destination. Notification is given via official mail and normally takes up to two weeks to be received.”

Russian penal colonies are known for their lack of hygiene and access to medical care, with inmates often subjected to manual labor.

Last month, Griner lost her appeal against a nine-year drug sentence. She was detained in February and convicted in August of deliberately smuggling drugs into Russia.

She has repeatedly apologized for bringing a small amount of cannabis into the country, where she played basketball in the off-season.

In a statement, Griner’s representatives confirmed they do not know her current location or condition.

“Our primary concern continues to be BG’s health and well-being,” her agent Lindsay Colas said. “As we work through this very difficult phase of not knowing exactly where BG is or how she is doing, we ask for the public’s support in continuing to write letters and express their love and care for her.”

Griner’s detention has raised concerns that she is being used as a political pawn in Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The US government condemned the denial of her appeal last week, with a State Department spokesperson calling it “another repudiation of justice, which only compounds the original injustice of her detention.”

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Brittney Griner’s Wife ‘Terrified’ of What Could Happen to the WNBA Star | WATCH

A Russian court has denied WNBA star Brittney Griner’s appeal of a 9-year sentence for possessing vape cartridges containing cannabis oil. Griner and her lawyers asked for an acquittal or at least to lessen her sentence, which they said was disproportionate to the offense and contradicts Russia’s own judicial practices. President Biden says his administration is working to free her. Inside Edition Digital’s Stephanie Officer has the details.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Brittney Griner Found Guilty in Russia Drug Smuggling Case, Sentenced to 9 Years

Cherelle Griner 

Cherelle Griner, the wife of Brittney Griner has finally come out to speak since the WNBA star was imprisoned for 9 years in Russia. Cherelle has said it feels like her partner is being held as “a hostage” in a foreign country.

In an interview with Gayle King this past week, Cherelle got to explain that she is “terrified” of what her partner is going through, her trial, and the accompanying negotiations to get her back in the USA.

“It’s like a movie for me,” she explained. “In no world did I ever think our president and a foreign nation president would be sitting down having to discuss the freedom of my wife.”

Griner and Cherelle have been married since 2019. She was arrested in Russia in February after she was found in possession of hashish oil in her luggage while at an airport.

She admitted to the offense during her trial but also told the judge she had traveled with it to Russia without intending after packing it by mistake. She added that she had no intentions of breaking Russian laws.

But she was still found guilty eventually and jailed for 9 years.

She appealed the ruling, and the hearing date has been set for October 25. Back at home, Cherelle says it’s all a horrifying experience.

“As much as everybody’s telling me a different definition of what BG is, it feels to me as if she’s a hostage,” Cherelle said. “It terrifies me.”

Brittney Griner 

She says she is worried she may never see her wife again.

“When you watch movies,” she said, “sometimes those situations don’t end well. Sometimes they never get the person back.”

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden has vowed to do everything in his power to get Griner back home. In August, he said that he and his administration would “work tirelessly” until the basketball player returns home.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Here’s the Latest on the Brittney Griner Trial in Russia After Her Testimony on Wednesday | VIDEO

WNBA star Brittney Griner has been found guilty by a Russian court of smuggling drugs into the country with criminal intent. She was sentenced to 9 years in prison, People reports.

Griner has been detained in Russia since February on accusations of smuggling cannabis oil, which is illegal in the country. Last month, she pleaded guilty to drug charges. “I was in a rush packing and the cartridges accidentally ended up in my bag,” Griner told the court in Khimki, BBC reported.

The American athlete faced up to 10 years in jail for the charge. During closing arguments this week, prosecutors asked for 9.5 years, CNN reports. 

The United States had offered to release Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, known as the “Merchant of Death” in exchange for Griner and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan.

https://eurweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Brittney-Griner-led-i... 300w, https://eurweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Brittney-Griner-led-i... 768w, https://eurweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Brittney-Griner-led-i... 150w, https://eurweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Brittney-Griner-led-i... 600w, https://eurweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Brittney-Griner-led-i... 696w, https://eurweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Brittney-Griner-led-i... 629w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" />
Brittney Griner led in Russian courtroom (Evgenia Novozhenina-Reuters)

As we reported previously, former President Trump called Griner “spoiled” during a recent interview on the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show. He also noted that a prisoner exchange for a Russian arms dealer “doesn’t seem like a very good trade.”

As reported by CNN, prior to the verdict, Griner apologized to the court and asked for leniency. 

“I never meant to hurt anybody, I never meant to put in jeopardy the Russian population, I never meant to break any laws here,” Griner said in the Khimki city courthouse, near Moscow. “I made an honest mistake and I hope that in your ruling that it doesn’t end my life here. I know everybody keeps talking about political pawn and politics, but I hope that that is far from this courtroom.

“I want to say again that I had no intent on breaking any Russian laws. I had no intent. I did not conspire or plan to commit this crime,” she added.

Per Daily Mail, the White House has been unable to negotiate a prisoner swap to bring the two-time US Olympic basketball gold medalist home.

President Joe Biden reacted to the verdict, saying: “Russia is wrongfully detaining Brittney. It’s unacceptable, and I call on Russia to release her immediately so she can be with her wife, loved ones, friends, and teammates.”

He said the White House will pursue “every possible avenue” to bring her home.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This week’s trial proceedings in Russia over WNBA star Brittney Griner‘s detention have shed more light on the details of her arrest, including her testimony that she wasn’t provided key information on her rights granted under Russian law

Seated in a courtroom near Moscow Wednesday, Griner denied accusations from prosecutors of drug smuggling and said she did not intend to bring cannabis oil found in her luggage in February into Russia at all.

Griner pleaded guilty to the charges earlier this month in an attempt to mitigate her sentence, which could be up to 10 years in prison. Her arrest and trial have been the source of international outcry, and the US State Department has classified her detention as wrongful.

Yet as her trial is expected to continue into next month, CNN has learned the Biden administration offered Russia a prisoner exchange of Griner and fellow detained American Paul Whelan for a convicted Russian arms trafficker serving a 25-year sentence in the US — a proposal that Griner’s Russian lawyers say caught them unaware

Here are the latest developments in Griner’s trial and what may lie ahead:

Griner’s arrest was improper, legal team says

After being stopped by personnel at the Sheremetyevo International Airport on February 17 and asked to open her bags, Griner’s luggage was found to contain what amounted to less than one gram of cannabis oil, according to Russian prosecutors.

Brittney Griner holds photographs standing inside a defendant’s cage before a hearing at a court outside Moscow on July 27. – (Alexander Zemlianichenko-Pool-AFP-Getty Images

No attorney was present, Griner testified, and she said her rights were not explained to her, which, according to Russian law, should have occurred within three hours. Those rights would include her right to know what she was suspected of and to have access to a defense attorney from the moment she was detained — including the ability to have a private meeting before her first interrogation by authorities.

Griner signed documents that were unclear to her, she said, and she had to use Google Translate on her phone to try and make sense of what was happening.

Griner’s detention, search and arrest were “improper,” Alexander Boykov, one of her lawyers, said Wednesday. More details would be revealed, he said, during closing arguments expected to take place “in a manner of a couple of weeks.”

Brittney Griner – court (CNN)

She testified she did not know the oil was in her bag

The two-time Olympic gold medalist was aware of Russian drug laws, she testified, and the cannabis oil was in her luggage due to “stress packing” in a rush.

“I still don’t understand to this day how they ended up in my bags,” Griner said.

Griner “confirmed that she had a doctor’s prescription for the use of medical cannabis,” which “is quite a popular treatment among professional athletes. She emphasized that she never planned to bring it to Russia and use it,” attorney Maria Blagovolina told reporters after the hearing.

A knee injury forced her into a wheelchair for four months, Griner told the court, and she used the substance for inflamed knee and ankle joints. She also emphasized she did not use it before tournaments to prevent possible disqualifications.

“No, I would never risk that. I never wanted to hurt my team,” Griner said. She was tested for drugs, her lawyers previously said, and was clean.

Griner “explained to the court that she knows and respects Russian laws and never intended to break them,” Blagovolina said. Griner also told the court she enjoyed playing basketball in Russia during the WNBA’s offseason and that her club, UMMC Ekaterinburg, became a second home to her, Blagovolina said

“We continue to insist that, by indiscretion, in a hurry, she packed her suitcase and did not pay attention to the fact that substances allowed for use in the United States ended up in this suitcase and arrived in the Russian Federation,” Boykov said.

Prisoner swap is proposed, US officials say

Amid Griner’s detention and trial, months of internal debate by the Biden administration culminated in an offer by the US to exchange Griner and Whelan — whose Russian prison sentence has been denounced by the US as unfair — with convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout, people briefed on the matter tell CNN

The plan received the backing of President Joe Biden and overrides opposition from the Department of Justice, which generally frowns upon prisoner trades, according to the sources.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Biden was “directly involved” and signed off on the proposal” presented to Moscow, but he declined to provide further details or confirm Bout as part of the proposal. Blinken said he also intends to speak with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the coming days — their first conversation since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

However, when asked about the offer Thursday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters, “So far there is no agreement on this issue.”

“Look, since there are no agreements now that would be finalized, then, accordingly, I have nothing more to add to what has been said,” Peskov said.

Griner’s attorneys, Blagovolina and Boykov, learned of the possible swap through news reports, they said. While not participating in those discussions, the two said they would be pleased with any productive results.

“From the legal perspective, the swap is possible only after the court reaches a verdict. In any case, we would be really happy if Brittney will be able to come home and hope it will be soon,” they said.

Griner is due to return to Khimki regional court August 2

‘Really good chance’ of release, says freed American

Since the reporting of the proposed swap became public, officials say families have been kept abreast of certain developments and supporters have expressed hope that the deal is accepted by Russia.

National Security Council communications coordinator John Kirby said a senior administration official spoke with the families prior to Blinken’s announcement about the proposal. Biden recently spoke by phone with Griner’s wife, Cherelle, and Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth.

David Whelan, Paul’s brother, said in a statement, “Our family appreciates the Biden Administration seeking Paul’s release using the resources it has available. We hope the Russian government responds to the US government and accepts this or some other concession that enables Paul to come home to his family.”

Trevor Reed, a Marine veteran who returned to the US in a prisoner swap earlier this year after being detained in Russia for more than two years, told CNN’s Jake Tapper that he thinks Griner and Whelan “have a really good chance” of making it home, “especially considering the transparency that the administration has used in this.”

“I think that, you know, if the Russians are not stupid then they’ll take that offer,” Reed said

Rep. Colin Allred of Texas, who worked to pass a bipartisan House resolution calling for Griner’s release, said it was critical hearing Griner’s testimony and that she has done her best to present herself in court, but it may not be enough depending on how the Russian government reacts.

“The only reason we’re having this conversation is because they’re trying to use her for leverage against the United States,” Allred told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “Clearly we’re having to do whatever it takes to get her home, and I’m hoping this package will be accepted by the Russians.”