Brittney Griner traded for ‘Merchant of Death’
An Update on Brittney Griner
By A.T.B.Gilchrist
Last year in August, I wrote about the Russian incarceration of W.N.B.A. (Women’s National Basketball Association) Star, Brittney Griner. In summary, she was sentenced in a Russian court to 9 and a half years in prison, for drug charges, having been found with less than a gram of hashish oil (cannabis concentrate) in vape cartridges in her luggage. Unfortunately for her, although many states of the United States, her home country, have decriminalized cannabis, Russian has not. Against Russia’s extremely severe sentencing for any drug charges, such as drug use or possession, she had little chance of freedom, and experts said Brittney Griner’s trial was likely to end in a conviction. She faced up to 10 years in a penal colony if she was convicted. Compare this to Australia, where in NSW the maximum she could receive is a 2-year prison sentence and/or up to $2,200 fine.
“There’s a bias mainly because the Russian judicial system says they really should not go to trial unless the defendant is going to be convicted,” said William Pomeranz, the acting director of the Kennan Institute and an expert on Russian law. “There’s no real idea or expectation that the defendant could be innocent. There’s no presumption of innocence, really.”
Her wife, Cherelle Griner called for the Biden administration to do “everything in their power” to get her released. In fact Brittney managed to appeal directly to the president herself in a handwritten letter delivered to the White House, urging him not to “forget about me and the other American Detainees.” Notably, while Trevor Reed was released in a prisoner exchange in April, fellow former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan is serving a 16-year sentence of hard labor on espionage charges.
On August the 15th, Griner’s lawyers, Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov, filed an appeal of her nine-year Russian prison sentence for drug possession. After Griner’s conviction, Blagovolina and Boykov said the sentence was excessive and that in similar cases, defendants have received an average sentence of about five years, with about a third of them granted parole.
The Moscow court however, rejected her appeal of her nine-year sentence on drug charges, an anticipated result in a trial that U.S. and international officials called an illegitimate proceeding.
On the 19th of November, she was transferred to a penal colony, the Female Penal Colony IK-2 in the town of Yavas in the Mordovia region, 200-plus miles southeast of Moscow. Finally, after a total 9 months of captivity on December the 8th, after a sudden flurry of talks, Griner was released in a high level prisoner swap, traded for notorious Arms Dealer Viktor Bout nicknamed “The Merchant of Death”. “I had thought about this moment a thousand times, and I thought I would be full of tears, but I was overwhelmingly happy,” Cherelle recalls in an interview. “It was the first time I was able to finally exhale, and I’m like, ‘Oh, thank God. This is such a great day.'”
“It feels so good to be home,” said Griner in a statement released on Friday. “The last 10 months have been a battle at every turn. I dug deep to keep my faith and it was the love from so many of you that helped keep me going. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone for your help.” “President Biden you, brought me home and I know you are committed to bringing Paul Whelan and all Americans home too. I will use my platform to do whatever I can to help you,” said Griner in her statement. “I also encourage everyone that played a part in bringing me home to continue their efforts to bring all Americans home. Every family deserves to be whole.” Griner had traveled to Russia during the WNBA offseason to play for UMMC Ekaterinburg. The 32-year-old, one of the best basketball players in the world however, said that she has every intention of returning to play for the Phoenix Mercury for the new WNBA season, which starts in May.