Embed from Getty Images
A couple of weeks ago, Brittney Griner’s appeal was denied, with the appeals court upholding the original sentence of nine years in a Russian penal colony. At the time, her lawyers said that any move was likely to take a while. It didn’t take long. Brittney is currently being transferred to a penal colony. Neither her lawyers nor US embassy officials have been notified of her current location or her final destination. Only Russian officials know and, according to the Associated Press, they did not even notify the US embassy of Brittney’s transfer ahead of time and haven’t responded to any inquiries.
Brittney Griner is being transferred to a penal colony in Russia where she is set to begin her nine-year sentence for carrying cannabis oil into the country.
The U.S. women’s basketball star, 32, was sentenced last month after being arrested in February at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport on “drug smuggling charges”. President Biden had been trying to negotiate a deal to get Griner back on U.S. soil, saying she had been “wrongfully detained,” but was denied, though the White House has continued to pursue efforts.
Griner “is now on her way to a penal colony,” Griner’s attorneys Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov said in a statement on Wednesday. “We do not have any information on her exact current location or her final destination.”
“In accordance with the standard Russian procedure, the attorneys, as well as the U.S. 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.”
In a statement to PEOPLE following Griner’s initial sentencing in August, her attorneys voiced that the verdict was “absolutely unreasonable” and said they will “certainly file an appeal.”
However, after the appeal was rejected in October, Griner’s lawyers told PEOPLE that she is “a very strong person” and “has a champion’s character.”
US embassy officials met with Brittney last Thursday, November 3, and said she was doing “as well as can be expected under the circumstances.” On Friday the 4th, Brittney was moved from the detention center and is on her way to a penal colony somewhere in Russia. According to USA TODAY, the transfer can take several weeks and only when she reaches her destination will her lawyers be notified by snail mail, which will take another two weeks. The article adds: “The family of [Paul] Whelan, another American who is currently wrongfully detained by Russia, previously [said] that during transport, Griner would be placed in a small, windowless railroad car with no information about her destination. She will have no communication with her legal team, U.S. officials or her family. ‘They disappear off the face of the earth.'” USA TODAY has a detailed breakdown, including information about what life is like in Russian penal colonies.
Various Biden administration officials have released statements about Brittney’s wrongful detention, unjust transfer, and treatment. They also reiterated their commitment to bringing her home. At a press conference about the midterms, President Biden said he is “determined to get her home” and that his “hope is that now that the election is over, that Mr. Putin will be able to discuss with us and be willing to talk more seriously about a prisoner exchange.” Brittney’s agent also put out a statement, but her family declined to do so. They’re obviously heartbroken and scared of what might happen. This is a horrible situation and based on what I’ve read about penal colonies, I really hope something is done soon.
I’m glad Biden is making an effort for her.
If this had happened under Trump, he would probably have mocked her.
Absolutely
I cannot fathom to imagine her fear and anxiousness. I pray she has strength to get through this physically and mentally. May Putin be held accountable by karma for using innocents as a political pawn.
Truly evil and wrong. I hope she and all who have been wrongly detained and imprisoned can be reunited with the people who love them.
So sad, it’s heart wrenching
I don’t understand how Brittney wasn’t already brought home.
I don’t understand how Brittney isn’t coming home today.
I don’t understand how Brittney isn’t a higher priority.
Every day I check for the howling and uprising across ALL sport for the sake of Brittney. Why doesn’t the US do more for her? This could happen to anyone. My friends are seriously tired of listening to me ask why isn’t more of an effort made to bring this woman home?
Why is the value of this queer, black, gifted woman so cheap?
Honest question, what would you have them do? Seriously, you don’t think the Biden admin is working hard? You are talking about a man who is unwilling to negotiate. For months now, we’ve been reading that even the foremost experts and intelligence officials simply don’t know what to do about the war in Ukraine, what he is thinking etc. Nobody can predict his actions. People think peace should be negotiated. He doesn’t want to negotiate! What exactly do you do with someone like that?
I read an article in a major German newspaper this week about this case and how Putin not only wants Viktor Bout but apparently also wants Wadim Krassikow, the man who is serving a life sentence here in Germany for the murder of a Russian refugee – a terrorist according to Putin. He is now simply collecting citizens from the countries where his paid assassins and arms dealers are imprisoned. It’s insane.
So this is more complicated than “She’s black and queer, nobody cares”.
@Emmi, I hear you and still, if it’s my mother? I’m OK letting Putin have his thugs back in return for my mum. Trevor Reed was traded. Brittney can be traded
Very unfortunately this. He’s holding onto her hoping we will stop our support of Ukraine.
There is also a white, straight, American man in her same position, btw. She’s not the only one.
@Carrot: I’m not saying I don’t understand the emotional response. I do. If it’s my mother, of course I want that on a personal level. But you asked why and I tried to give an answer and again, Brittney can only be traded if the terms are somewhat reasonable. And by reasonable I mean doable. Germany cannot release a convicted killer in exchange for an American citizen. It would be absolute insanity. Putin would start collecting more foreigners willy-nilly to trade them. He used the flimsiest excuse to imprison Brittney as it is.
The US has no leverage here. Putin has all the hate and all the control. Short of Putin somehow being out of power, I don’t know what the hell anyone can do.
more is being done, but the State Dept doesn’t advertise private negotiations
Putin’s price is the end of all US military aid to Ukraine. Full stop. This is a terrorist demand which cannot be granted. Putin is a terrorist. That’s not the fault of the US government or Brittney Griner. It’s entirely Putin’s fault.
Exactly this, more is being done and Putin wants the maximum leverage. Putin has been choosing torture every day of the Ukraine war, that is who he is. He wants the US tortured in every way possible and he’s not giving up. My heart goes out to Brittney.
So weird how she has been abandoned by sports, tv, industry and allll those people. Who would they abandon? A queer black talent of course! Who would they not stop talking about? Who would they put out commercials about, tweet, organize, keep the pressure up for? Literally the grand majority of other USA sports stars. It’s a moral crime on the industry’s part to stay so quiet.
Release Brittney Griner Now
So many people on social media just shrug and say, “Well, she shouldn’t have broken the law, that’s Russia’s punishment.” Yes, she broke the law. But this is inhumane and unreasonable punishment. I did not know that penal colonies even existed anymore. This is not 1890s England.
A good data point to share with them, if you think they’re engaging in good faith, is that the normal punishment for her crime is a few *days* in jail and a fine.
She didn’t receive due process. Every American saying this is okay because she broke the law and has no problem with the lack of a fair judicial process needs to turn in their patriot card. The US judicial system is racist and channels Black men into a for profit prison system for crimes a white man would receive a slap on the wrist for, but they don’t disappear into unknown locations with no access to legal representation. JFC.
Well said Betty Rose!
I’ve been so terrified for Brittney from the start. I spent about 6 months in Russia a few years back, and it was the most racist, homophobic, and misogynistic environment I’ve ever been in. I was leading an international group of university students, and the Russians in the group made no effort to conceal their resentment and openly discussed how I needed to be “put in my place” (I will leave it to your imagination just how they suggested they’d do that). This is how I was treated as a white, heterosexual woman who was free to leave at any time. How might a queer WoC “criminal” from an enemy state fare after being shipped off to some godforsaken frozen hellhole? We MUST bring Brittney home, that’s all there is to it.
Yes, Robert, it does. It it does sound cruel and tells us a lot about you, especially with your phrasing. Stop.
Aside from this current horror what break my heart is the Soviet Union professed a culture of egalitarianism far beyond women’s rights in the capitalist west. I’m not shocked it was all a lie but I liked the myth.
Putin using her as a pawn serves several purposes: he knows the US will make less of an uproar about her detention because she is Black and Black people are, on the whole, not a priority here. He gets to punish an LGBT+ person and send a message to his own people that being gay is a criminal offense–as well as show how, again in America–people won’t go to bat as quickly for a gay human being. And then he gets to play “I’m the most macho” in his d*ck-measuring contest over Ukraine, over whose penis will blink first.
This breaks my heart. I just wonder how differently this would be handled if this were Lebron over there in a Russian jail…. Of course, Lebron doesn’t have to work TWO jobs like these WNBA athletes do either.
Lebron would be an even bigger prize for Putin. He still wouldn’t budge an inch no matter what we did short of ending military assistance to Zelensky and Ukraine. That’s what he wants.
This entire situation is heartbreaking and infuriating.
I’m very concerned about Brittney’s health. There is a text line on the white house site and I’ve been texting one simple message. ‘Get Brittney outta that hellhole Mr President’ and I’ll be sending it daily until they get her outta that hellhole.
I’m very concerned about Brittney surviving.
It doesn’t have one thing to do with race. Paul Whelan’s been held since 2018. If Putin doesn’t want to deal, there’s not a lot Biden can do. And I don’t like Biden but I know his hands are tied.
According to the USA Today article, Brittney’s mental health is deteriorating, which is understandable, but very worrying as she is shipped off to a penal colony in winter. I fear there is nothing that can be done to secure her release with Putin in power, even though I know the Biden administration is trying. My guess is everything with Russian higher-ups is complete chaos right now–everyone desperate, paranoid & scrambling for power.
Is there no one, no wealthy like oligarch or something who can see this situation for what it could be for their bs and literally use this as a power grab- who wants to usurp Putin’s authority who like maybe has a family member who is lgbtqia and like, wants to make the US their bestie (or make us indebted to them?) and take the power from Putin and get all the money power they want that way?????? like wtf Couldn’t some rich ass oligarch the regular folks are also scared of just like, show up w his entourage and like, CASH MONEY, or make a call or some shit and like, go get Brittney and just put her on a private plane back to Cherelle. Like why can’t that happen, OLIGARCHS. Any OLIGARCH WIFE who reads this, and has a heart, please help.
Yep. very concerned for Brittney.
That’s really not at all how this works. It sounds very American to think that everything can be solved with money. Why would any oligarch risk his life and the life of his family? They already have the money and going against Putin gets you thrown out of windows for MUCH less. The man has had 2 decades to surround himself with hardliners and yes-men who dream of a new Soviet Union. Their reality is very different from ours. And it’s not even clear how much support he has in the population. We know nothing at this point, unfortunately.
Those rich ass oligarchs don’t also have like, huge ass caches of weaponry all over their country? None of them are also Ukrainian and against the invasion? They’ve not already sent their families and loved ones to ‘safety’ with their moola? Of course ‘we’ don’t know what’s really happening. But Idk. I think people are people, globally. It’s likely naive and Uber American of me, but as those are not my worst qualities, I’m a ok. Let’s not attack each other when we’re all pulling for our lady to get home to ‘safety’. We’re all in the same gang here. 🖖 💕
Also, respectfully, Emmi, how do you know ‘how this all works’ it ain’t working now
Several oligarchs & their families have been killed around the world since the start of the war in shady “murder-suicides.” It’s a very dangerous time because Putin is so desperate. And much of their money is actually Putin’s.
It’s not even obvious that he’ll have an individual successor or that any given successor would be less ruthless than Putin is. You could get someone worse, or Russia could devolve into regional/ethnic factions led by oligarchs & warlords (like Kadyrov).
@Nicegirl: I was not attacking you. But this is really NOT how it works at all and I don’t “know” this 100% based on my connections to the Kremlin of course. I know as much as the average German citizen can based on whatever reading I can do. It IS working. It’s working the way Putin wants it to work. If it were that easy, if it were about one rich guy staging a coup, it would have happened by now. They’re falling out of windows. That’s a fact.
I will remember Brittney, her safety and well-being in my prayers.
I’m worried for Brittney, our American compatriot lgbtqia stuck in a penal colony and being used as a pawn. I’m not going to be concerned w Russian power structure or rich peoples problems. None of it. Brittney is my concern. Idc what happens to rich criminals, I care about Brittney. Brittney Griner. Rich criminals are attacking our girl Brittney. Let them attack each other, is my position. I don’t care about them, I care about Brittney. Setting me straight in the comments ain’t gonna change my opinion.
Every time I think of her situation I’m beside myself with rage. The injustice is too much to bear.
Remember last month when Biden pardoned all those federal cases of people convicted of simple marijuana possession? Was that a message to Putin?
I still can’t believe this is happening. I can’t believe that someone can be punished to this degree for such a minor victimless crime. I hope the Biden Administration is working as hard as they can. I know it’s a difficult situation for the administration too, but we can’t forget Brittney and her family.
I was mugged in Moscow in the late 90’s. It was early morning in front of the White House and 6 young men knocked me down, took all my clothes and personal items and left me lying in the gutter. A police car came. No insignia, no uniforms, no effort to communicate. They stopped to pick up something that turned out to be an air filter which they promptly put in while we sat in the car in the middle of the road. I was then taken to the American Embassy where they opened the door and threw me into another gutter. I was the 13th victim that day and it was only 11 am. I was never so glad to leave a country and come back home. I didn’t mind the money taken which will probably feed a family for months. But the violation and hands grabbing at me makes me shudder even now. I feel so very sorry for Brittney. I was able to leave. Do whatever it takes to bring her home. What’s another thug returned if it means she comes home.to her loved ones.
So sad and scary! I do hope she is returned home safely. I’m not super familiar with women’s basketball but my understanding is that she had spent a few years playing in Russia to earn extra money. I’m not an expert in Russia but it’s hard for me to fathom an American, especially a Black, queer woman to voluntarily work in that country given what we know about it. I understand the pay was pretty good but damn, could she have gone to Europe or somewhere less hostile to Americans? Not blaming her but even before they invaded Ukraine we all knew how Russia treats people. Also do normal citizens get nine years in a penal colony for having some weed? That’s ridiculous but other countries have crazy laws. The whole thing is awful. I really hope other Americans are careful going to countries like Russia for work. I currently have a couple friends teaching English in China and I’m kind of worried for their safety and that’s something shady like this could easily happen to them because they are Americans an their teenage kids are there too.
This is absolutely terrifying. She can disappear in the middle of nowhere. I am so angry about all of this.
How is it that America has become so toothless?
Where are the diplomats?
Why is this woman being held and no one is doing anything?
Biden has so much going to hell, he does not seem to be able to fix anything, and yes I voted for him.
The economy, cost of living is rising, crime, American citizens being “disappeared” like this, etc.
I just am losing hope on so many issues.
What exactly do you want people to do if Putin doesn’t want to deal? They already offered 2 for 2. Her best chance of getting out is if Russia and Ukraine reach a peace treaty (unlikely anytime soon) and a condition is her and Whelon get released. They are both just stuck.
wearebg.org has a list of ways in which folks can help.
https://wearebg.org/#getinvolved
There’s an option to send a message to Brittney. I don’t know if they will ever reach her, or be a comfort at some point, but I will send them.
Hey cool thanks for the info @kat b. 💕 🖖
I am so very worried about BG and think about her a lot. It’s so frustrating to feel so powerless and what she’s going through is a kazillion times worse, of course. No comparison. Hope she’s staying strong mentally and knows we do care!
Wishing her and everyone working to bring her home strength.