WNBA player Brittney Griner is concerned after living in a Russian prison for nine months that she may have to serve the entirety of a nine-year sentence, and that the Biden administration may not be able to negotiate her early release.
“She has not been in as good condition as I could sometimes find her in,” Griner’s attorney Alexandr D. Boykov told the New York Times this week.
Boykov explained that Griner “is allowed outside once a day and she walks for an hour in a small courtyard,” and that she “stays in a small cell with two cellmates.” He noted that the 6-foot-9 Griner “has been given a bed to accommodate her height.”
Griner and her family have been optimistic after the Biden administration floated several release options, including prisoner swaps, to Russia which have been unsuccessful. Biden met with Griner’s wife Cherelle on September 16 to assure her that Griner and other detainees “are at front of mind,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at the time.
“We’re going to continue to do everything that we can, working tirelessly every day, to make sure that we get them home,” Jean-Pierre told reporters.
“I want to thank President Biden for today’s meeting. It was an honor to speak with him directly about the Brittney we know and love, and to thank him for the Administration’s efforts to secure her release,” Cherelle said after the meeting. “I’ve felt every minute of the grueling seven months without her. I look forward to the day my wife is back home.”
However, the conditions that Griner has lived in for nine months at the Russian penal prison have weighted on her emotionally.
“She is not yet absolutely convinced that America will be able to take her home,” Boykov said. “She is very worried about what the price of that [a prisoner exchange] will be, and she is afraid that she will have to serve the whole sentence here in Russia.”
Griner has her first appeal court date set for October 25.
“Mr. Boykov said that the uncertainty over which type of prison Ms. Griner would end up in is a particular concern, as she fears it will be one with miserable or inhumane conditions,” the Times reported.
Griner’s release is not a priority for Russia, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin said Sunday.
“In this tense situation, I think that he (Biden) is thinking first and foremost about the upcoming midterm elections,” Yury Ushakov said on state-run TV program Moscow.Kremlin.Putin. “He keeps emphasizing the need to bring (Griner) back home… However, it’s not the main issue that we are concerned about.”
President Joe Biden has tried several times to negotiate a release for Griner, but Russian President Vladimir Putin has refused to respond.
“Look, I have no intention of meeting with him,” Biden told CNN’s Jake Tapper last week. “But, for example, if he came to me at the G20 and said, ‘I want to talk about the release of Griner,’ I would meet with him.”
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