Eight months.
WNBA star, Brittney Griner, has been wrongfully detained in Russia since February of this year. President Joe Biden and many other influential public figures have been working towards getting her home. At least that’s what has been reported. After being arrested in Moscow, at a local airport, Griner was accused of smuggling drugs with criminal intent. She was sentenced to nine years in prison and fined 1M rubles.
An appeal was made back in August, but no decisions were made. All the waiting has Griner doubting America’s ability to get her home.
“She is not yet absolutely convinced that America will be able to take her home. 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,” her lawyer, Alexander Boykov, shared in a statement to the New York Times.
The last we heard from the U.S. government was a report of them considering a prisoner exchange with Russia. The offer was made on July 27th. And just like everything else in this unfortunate case, no updates have been given.
For Griner to feel as though all hope is lost and all her optimism has been stripped, we truly can’t blame her for feeling that way. We just hope that more action will be made to assure her safe return. The WNBA has partnered with the NBA on bringing her back.
Another appeal is set to take place in a Russian court on October 25th – just a couple of weeks away. We, at Urban Magazine, hope to report on the good news of her release soon.
