Brittney Griner, an American who has been detained, met with representatives from the US Embassy in Moscow on Thursday, according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. On Air Force One, Jean-Pierre told reporters, “We’re informed she’s doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances.”
In a tweet sent on Thursday, Ned Price, a spokesman for the State Department, stated that embassy staff “saw firsthand her fortitude and perseverance despite her present circumstances.” Griner and Paul Whelan, two additional American prisoners, were also reachable by phone for embassy representatives on October 18 and October 31, respectively.
Since early August, they have been unable to see the imprisoned WNBA player. According to a State Department spokeswoman, Whelan hasn’t had a face-to-face visit since June 16 while being detained in a segregated prison camp miles from Moscow.
The US administration “made a big offer to the Russians to settle the current intolerable and unlawful, wrongful detentions” of Griner and Whelan, Jean-Pierre reaffirmed on Thursday. Brittney Griner, a player for the US Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), waits for the decision inside a defendant’s cage during a hearing in Khimki outside of Moscow on August 4, 2022.
“We continue to press for the immediate release of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan and fair treatment for every detained American.” https://t.co/Irhoi3xXKO
— GLAAD (@glaad) November 3, 2022
Griner was arrested at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport and later charged with illegal possession of cannabis. – Griner was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison by a Russian court after prosecutors asked for the athlete to receive that punishment for smuggling and storing drugs. Brittney Griner’s cocaine smuggling conviction is upheld by a Russian court.
She continued, “I can also tell you that in the ensuing weeks, despite the Russians’ lack of good faith negotiation, the US administration has continued to follow up on that offer and propose alternate viable paths forward with Russians through all available channels.” “This still ranks highly important.”
Whelan was taken into custody in December 2018 and given a 16-year prison term in June 2020 on espionage-related offenses. Griner was arrested in February, found guilty of narcotics smuggling in August, and was given a nine-year jail sentence. On October 25, a Moscow court dismissed Griner’s appeal.
It has been 259 days since our friend, Brittney Griner, has been wrongfully detained in Russia. It is time for her to come home. @WhiteHouse @potus @vp , we are paying attention and we are counting on you. #WeAreBG
— Breanna Stewart (@breannastewart) November 3, 2022
Griner once more expressed her regret for bringing a little amount of marijuana into Russia, where she played basketball during the off-season, and acknowledged that her punishment was “disproportionate” during that appeals session.
For my emotional and psychic [condition] as well as my family, with whom I haven’t been able to communicate, it has been extremely stressful and painful, according to Griner. The US government criticized the denial of her appeal, calling it “another repudiation of justice, which further compounds the fundamental injustice of her arrest,” according to a representative for the State Department.
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