The nightmare is finally over: Brittney Griner, the 32-year-old Texan player (one of the best centers in basketball history) has been released from a Russian prison where she was serving a nine-year sentence for drug trafficking. The excellent news, which was announced by CBS Y PA and confirmed by President Joe Biden (“I just spoke with Brittney Griner. She is safe. She is on a plane. she is coming home“) It has been possible thanks to a prisoner exchange negotiated by both governments: Russia has freed Griner, the United States arms dealer Viktor Bout. The talks had been going on for weeks, and a few days ago the ‘okay‘ definitive of President Biden. The exchange, according to CBShas been made in the United Arab Emirates.
Biden spoke with Griner from the Oval Office, at the White House, where he was accompanied by Cherelle Griner, wife of the 2.06-meter player, two-time Olympic champion and two-time world champion with the Team USA. Also at his side were Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.. As soon as the deal was closed, Griner underwent a medical examination, the standard procedure followed in such cases by US authorities.
Bout, whose release has facilitated the barter, was sentenced to 25 years in US federal prison. Finally Retired Marine Paul Whelan, who will remain imprisoned in Russia, has not been included, as had been speculated.where he has been serving a sentence for more than four years on espionage charges that the US government has rejected.
Griner was detained at a Russian airport in February after two vaping cartridges containing 0.25 and 0.45 grams of cannabis oil were found in his luggage. She was subsequently tried and sentenced to nine years in jail. From the US government, the arrest of the athlete, who played for Phoenix Mercury and, in Russia, for Yekaterinburg, was considered “unfair”.
In November, the US government assured that Russia “did not negotiate welland”. Blinken had made it clear that for his part, there was no problem in negotiating the exchange: “The other party also has a vote on this, it’s not just what we want to do. But one way or another, one day or another, we’ll make it”. It was finally achieved with Bout as a bargaining chip. The arms dealer was in a prison in Marion, Illinois. He had been arrested in 2008.
Griner’s situation was extremely harsh, and Of course, it was a handicap that complicated his case due to the coincidence with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the diplomatic tension that was generated between the Russians and potential Westerners, the United States at the forefront.. As an American, Afro-American and homosexual, he feared for his situation in a Russian penitentiary, where the guarantees that are usual in other countries in terms of living conditions and safety of inmates are not given. In addition, Griner had been transferred to IK-2, a fearsome reminder of Stalin’s Russia and the gulaglocated in the middle of nowhere in the Republic of Mordovia.
“Today is a happy day for me and my family, but there are many families that are not complete. brittney and me we will remain committed to the work of bringing back all Americans. C.Like Paul Whelan, whose family is in our hearts as we celebrate Brittney’s return.”, assured Cherelle Griner from the White House, where she appeared with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.