Brittney Griner was detained in Russia for almost 10 months before she was released from Russian detention. The US basketballer was officially convicted of drug possession and smuggling on August 4th, when she was sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison after less than one gram of cannabis oil was found in her luggage. The conditions got worse when Griner was moved to a Russian penal colony but, soon after she was transported to one, she was released in a prisoner swap that involved Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
The Russian government notified the US embassy that Griner had been transferred to a penal colony weeks after she was actually moved. “The U.S. Embassy in Moscow was formally notified by the Russian government of Ms. Griner’s transfer on November 23, more than two weeks after she was moved from a prison in Moscow to IK-2 in Mordovia,” a State Department spokesperson told CNN. “We are in frequent contact with Ms. Griner’s legal team and aware that they were able to visit her this week.”
What would life have been like for Griner in the Russian penal colony?
- There is 16-hour work days full of manual labor.
- Nobody in the US would know exactly where she was, only that she’s in Mordovia: an area full of penal colonies. Her condition and health would be completely unknown.
- Mordovia’s penal colonies are not just labor camps, but also places where torture and abuse is the norm. Racism and homophobia are commonplace, leaving Griner — a Black, American lesbian — more vulnerable than most.
Hope grew when Russia claimed it was open to a prisoner swap deal months ago, meaning Griner might finally get to go home. However, the US was awaiting answers on the whereabouts of American Paul Whelan, who is still wrongfully detained in Russia. His family voiced concern after more than a week had passed without contacting him. Whelan’s brother doubted claims that the detainee was sent to the prison hospital. Whelan was originally part of the US’ proposed prisoner swap, but ultimately missed out on coming home with Griner.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken suggested that Russia was exhibiting a trend of not abiding by basic agreements, and it was thought Griner was being used as a bargaining chip in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which left us feeling hopeless that she would be released anytime soon. “Even as we’re working to bring [Whelan] home, to bring Brittney Griner home, this isn’t the end of what we see Russia doing in terms of abusing very basic understandings that countries have had when it comes to having access to our citizens who are being detained,” he said.
Naturally, Griner’s fans and loved ones felt that enough was not being done to bring Griner home. Sure, she shouldn’t be seen as more important than any other detainee just because she’s famous. But the failure of news outlets to keep her in the headlines, despite many updates, was disappointing.
2018 WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart tweeted about Brittney Griner every day, reminding as many people as she could of the exact amount of time Griner had spent detained in Russia.
While (often faceless) trolls scoffed at Stewart calling Griner “wrongfully convicted,” delightfully reminding everybody that she did commit a Russian crime by accidentally bringing in barely a drop of cannabis oil to the country, Russian law states that a prison sentence of up to two weeks can be used to punish those in possession of up to six grams of marijuana. Griner had 0.7 grams of hashish and was slammed with nine years, in what the state department called a “sham trial.”
“Following a sham trial and the unjust sentencing of Brittney Griner, Moscow is transferring her from a prison in Moscow to a remote penal colony,” Antony Blinken said in a statement. “It is another injustice layered on her ongoing unjust and wrongful detention.
We hope Brittney Griner heals from such a traumatic, drawn-out time in Russian detention, surrounded by those who love her.
