Brittney Griner’s 9-year prison sentence has been upheld.
The court reportedly denied the thirty-two-year-old basketball player’s appeal after a hearing on Tuesday morning.
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Brittney Griner was sentenced to 9 years in prison.
She was found guilty of drug possession and smuggling with criminal intent by a Russian court.
Griner was in Russian custody since being detained in February.
This came after the Russian Federal Customs Service found vape cartridges containing hashish oil, a marijuana concentrate, in her luggage.
In her final plea to the court, Griner said: “I never meant to hurt anybody.”
“I never meant to put in jeopardy the Russian population. I never meant to break any laws here. I made an honest mistake and I hope that in your ruling that it doesn’t end my life here.”
The Texas-born professional basketball player’s defense team has slammed the verdict…
The New York Times reported that they called it “absolutely unreasonable.”
They also said they they will “certainly file an appeal.”
Griner was also fined 1 million rubles (around $16,300) by the court.
The US government is apparently doing everything it can to get Griner home…
But its not only the government who is trying to help Griner…
Professional basketball player Kyrie Irving also called out President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to issue more information on the matter…
And his series of tweets have gone viral on the internet.
“What is truly happening with our Queen @brittneygriner @POTUS @VP?
“Please give us an Update,” he added.
And it’s not only Irving who has raised a voice out loud…
“Anyone that goes back to Russia to play is insane. Praying for BG man…this is breaking my heart seeing her right now 😔😔😔,” wrote WNBA star Lexie Brown.
Ex-NFL star Robert Griffin also expressed his opinion in favor of Brittney.
“BRING BRITTNEY GRINER HOME!!!” tweeted Griffin.
The NBA and WNBA released a joint statement too and according to TMZ it said: “Griner’s verdict and sentencing was unjustified and unfortunate,” but noted that the organization “will stop at nothing to make sure she comes home.”
But the support for Griner didn’t stop there…
Even Justin Bieber has let out how he feels about the matter.
“If anyone knows of anyway (sic) I can help please let me know,” Bieber wrote.
However, it was previously reported that the USA made a “very good offer” to bring Brittney back home.
And now, the facility that she faces incarceration in, has been revealed.
The prison has a reputation in Russia as one of the worst facilities in the country.
It’s called IK-14, and it does not look good.
It’s even been dubbed a ‘gulag labor camp’, according to Business Insider.
The report by Business Insider says the prison is situated in Russia’s central region of Mordovia.
And it’s just as bad as it sounds.
Covered by a blanket of snow, the dismal grey building is far worse than the typical prison you’d expect here in the U.S.
The building, surrounded by barbed wire, is said to be infested with rats, as well as various diseases, putting the prisoners at risk.
Former inmate Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, who’s a political activist, previously described staying there.
She claimed they had to work 17 hours a day, with 1 days off every 2 months.
Another former inmate, Gelena Alekseyeva, also went into detail about the colony.
“Mice lived with us. Rats lived with us in the industrial zone,” she told Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty. “Before you went into the bathroom, you needed to knock — there were special poles for that. So that the rats would scatter.”
Former NBA star, Dennis Rodman, has spoken out about Griner’s sentence…
According to reports, Rodman, who has tried to cultivate an image as an informal U.S. diplomat to North Korea and Russia, is doing something about it.
He is more likely to hurt than help, said a senior Biden administration official.
“It’s public information that the administration has made a significant offer to the Russians and anything other than negotiating further through the established channel is likely to complicate and hinder release efforts,” said the official.
Rodman has already cultivated a relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over the past decade, by making multiple visits to the country.
And that’s not all…
He called Russian President Vladimir Putin “cool” after a 2014 trip to Moscow…
While in 2018, he showed up on the sidelines of former President Donald Trump’s meeting with Kim Jong Un in Singapore, crediting himself with helping to secure the release of American Kenneth Bae from North Korea.
But now he has another mission…
“I got permission to go to Russia to help that girl,” Rodman told NBC News in a restaurant in Washington DC.
The legendary NBA player said he’s doing all he can to get to Russia.
“I’m trying to go this week,” he added.
If Rodman goes to Russia, it won’t be the first time he’s dealt with an international leader who has strained relations with the U.S.
But Ned Price, a State Department spokesperson, has recently revealed something interesting…
According to TMZ, Price said Rodman would not be traveling on behalf of the U.S. government.
This was mainly because the government felt Rodman’s involvement might mess up the U.S.’s current negotiations with Russia to get Griner out.
And reportedly Rodman too decided not to travel to Russia, after the government strongly advised against him traveling there.
Since then, Griner’s wife, Cherelle, told CBS’s Gayle King that that first August phone call with Griner after she was first detained, was “delightful.”
“She’s OK,” Cherelle recalled thinking at the sound of her wife’s voice and added: “We can survive this.”
But according to reports, the second phone call was described by Cherelle as “the most disturbing phone call” she’s ever experienced.
As per reports, the minute she hung up the phone, she said she began crying and didn’t leave her bed for days.
“You could hear that she was not OK… you could hear that she was at the max [suffering] that day, and there was nothing I could do. At that point, I didn’t know if she had anything left in her tank to continue to wake up every day and be in a place where she has no one,” Cherelle told King.
Cherelle said that when she saw photos of Griner handcuffed, sullen, and gaunt as she passed through Russian courthouses prior to her sentencing, she could tell “she’s not herself.”
She said that she knows Griner is being as strong as she possibly can be while locked up in a Russian prison and isolated from her friends and family, but she also cannot fathom that even at her “absolute weakest moment in life.”
Cherelle added: “She’s very afraid about being left and forgotten in Russia or just completely used to the point of her detriment. She’s saying things to me like, ‘My life just don’t even matter no more. I feel like my life doesn’t matter. Y’all don’t see me. Y’all don’t see the need to get me back home.'”
Griner has celebrated her thirty-second birthday in prison.
She shared a statement with her supporters.
“Thank you everyone for fighting so hard to get me home,” Griner said in a statement through her lawyer Maria Blagovolina, as per CNN.
“All the support and love are definitely helping me.”
However, Griner’s appeal has been denied in court, TMZ reports.
The WNBA star wasn’t physically present during the hearing on October 25 but she was present via videoconference, where she was inside a prison cell.
Griner and her team of attorneys hoped for the court to overturn a previous ruling in the case.
If not, then at least reduce the prison sentence.
Her attorney strongly argued that her prison sentence didn’t fit the crime she committed.
However, they weren’t expecting to win the hearing in court, as they stated that they did not “expect any miracles to happen.”
It’s unclear if Griner now has any further avenues to appeal the decision.