{"id":349096,"date":"2022-12-10T08:01:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-10T13:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/?p=349096"},"modified":"2022-12-10T07:38:06","modified_gmt":"2022-12-10T12:38:06","slug":"brittney-griner-stuck-in-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/2022\/12\/10\/brittney-griner-stuck-in-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"Brittney Griner: Stuck in Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>On October 25, the Russian government rejected Brittney Griner\u2019s appeal against her drug charges, and Griner will serve nine years of prison in Russia. \u201cWe are very disappointed,\u201d said Griner\u2019s attorneys Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov. \u201cWe still think the punishment is excessive and contradicts the existing court practice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last February, Griner traveled to Yekaterinburg to play for the UMMC Ekaterinburg, a Russian women\u2019s basketball team, during the WNBA offseason. However, cannabis was found in her luggage during the security check because she had been using it to treat her pain. Despite having a doctor\u2019s prescription, cannabis was still banned in Russia, so she was detained on Feb. 17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The trial was held in August, where Griner pleaded guilty to drug possession charges, but insisted that there was no criminal intent. At the start of the trial, she had spent almost eight months in pre-trial detention. Unfortunately, the trial did not end in her favor, and now she is to serve for 9 years in a penal colony.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"950\" height=\"713\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/files\/2022\/11\/GrinerRGB-1.jpg?resize=950%2C713&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-349145\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/files\/2022\/11\/GrinerRGB-1.jpg?w=950&amp;ssl=1 950w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/files\/2022\/11\/GrinerRGB-1.jpg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/files\/2022\/11\/GrinerRGB-1.jpg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/files\/2022\/11\/GrinerRGB-1.jpg?resize=465%2C349&amp;ssl=1 465w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/files\/2022\/11\/GrinerRGB-1.jpg?resize=666%2C500&amp;ssl=1 666w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Brittney Griner is behind bars during her appeal. Photo: Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool\/AP Photo<br><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The penal colony is a terrible place to live in. \u201cThis is not a building with cells,\u201d said Maria Alyokhina, a former prison inmate. \u201c[It] looks like a strange village, like a Gulag labor camp.\u201d The camp is split into two areas: the factory area and the living zone. The factory area is where people create clothing, mainly sewing Russian police and army uniforms. The living zone is where the 80 women live together in one room with three toilets and no hot water.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, the language barrier poses a large issue for Griner. The guards have often punished the inmates for the pettiest things: having an unbuttoned coat, setting a watch down on a table, having a messily attached nametag, etc. Basic needs like medicine also depend on the guards, and they often won\u2019t comply without being bribed. \u201cIt\u2019s been very very stressful and very traumatic to my mental and psychic [state] and to my family who I haven\u2019t been able to communicate,\u201d Griner said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The US Government is currently trying to arrange a prisoner swap with Russia to exchange Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer who is currently serving 25 years in prison for threats to kill Americans, for both American captives Britney Griner and Paul Whelan. \u201cI can also tell you that in the subsequent weeks despite a lack of good faith negotiation by the Russians, the US government has continued to follow up on that offer and propose alternative potential ways forward with Russians through all available channels,\u201d said White House Secretary Jean-Pierre. \u201cThis continues to be a top priority.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The whole debacle has been quite difficult for both Griner and her family. \u201cI can&#8217;t believe that I&#8217;m\u2026 living without my favorite person, my greatest love, biggest support, and just sanctuary,\u201d said Cherelle Griner, wife of Brittney Griner. \u201cLanguage truly fails to capture the excruciating pain that stems from having a loved one held hostage.&#8221; Cherelle has been quite outspoken in her support for Brittney and has spoken with lawmakers and President Joe Biden about bringing Brittney back to America.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On October 25, the Russian government rejected Brittney Griner\u2019s appeal against her drug charges, and Griner will serve nine years of prison in Russia. \u201cWe are very disappointed,\u201d said Griner\u2019s attorneys Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov. \u201cWe still think the punishment is excessive and contradicts the existing court practice.\u201d Last<span class=\"more-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/2022\/12\/10\/brittney-griner-stuck-in-russia\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":467,"featured_media":349145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[178],"tags":[],"class_list":["entry","author-david-fu24paceacademy-org","post-349096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-international-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/files\/2022\/11\/GrinerRGB-1.jpg?fit=950%2C713&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1TYqQ-1sOA","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/467"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349096"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349096\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":349821,"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349096\/revisions\/349821"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}