One hundred and forty-one days.
That’s how long Brittney Griner has been behind bars in Russia. It is all the time that it has been caught in the middle of a look of high stakes between the United States and Russia at the wrong time, while President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia continues his horrific invasion of Ukraine and echoes of the return of the Cold. War.
One hundred and forty-one days. This is the time Griner spends in limbo.
What terrible uncertainty and fear she must feel, in the face of a decade in a Russian prison if convicted. Griner captured that emotion in his recent letter to President Biden. “I’m terrified of being able to be here forever,” she wrote. She added, “Please don’t forget me.”
The seven-time WNBA Phoenix Mercury All-Star center pleaded guilty Thursday and admitted to doing wrong. In so many words, Griner and his lawyer said his problems began with a mistake: he was quickly preparing for his flight to Russia in February and unwittingly packed the smoke cartridges with small amounts of ‘hashish oil, less than a gram, he explains. fiscal. He said he had no intention of breaking Russian law.
Experts say a guilty verdict was a prior conclusion in a Russian legal system fully stacked against the defendants. Griner may have chosen not to fight in a battle he could not win, helping to speed up his case to a conclusion.
Right now we don’t know. Companions, fans and Mercury center woman Cherelle Griner have not been able to speak directly to her. With the Ukrainian war, everything we have seen or heard in Griner’s United States has been from appearances in a courtroom in the Moscow area which he has attended handcuffed.
Uncertainty and complication hover over this terrible affair. Russian media have claimed that talks on a possible prisoner exchange are already underway, although US officials have not confirmed it. A floating exchange would include Russian national Viktor Bout, who has been jailed in the United States since 2012 with a 25-year sentence for conspiring to sell weapons to people who said they planned to kill Americans. During his conviction, prosecutors called Bout “one of the most successful and sophisticated arms dealers in the world.” He is known as the Merchant of Death.
This unbalanced prospective agreement shows the difficulty of negotiating Griner’s release. Would it be a balanced exchange to exchange a basketball star who was carrying hashish oil in Russia for a man found guilty of participating in an international conspiracy against Americans?
Paul Whelan, another American detained in Russia, has served two years of a 16-year sentence for espionage charges he has denied. Is it fair to push for Griner’s release before Whelan’s? Should the United States negotiate for it to be included in an agreement, even if it delays both launches?
Issues of race, gender, and sexuality are even more complicated.
Griner is tattooed, with dreadlocks, black and three inches shy seven feet tall. It does not conform to widely accepted gender stereotypes. He is married to a woman and is an open LGBTQ activist. Putin has a well-documented contempt for LGBTQ people, which only increases his supporters ’fears for their well-being.
His appearance, sexuality, and frankness make Griner’s contempt just as great in some neighborhoods in the United States. This makes it fair to wonder if the outrage of American citizens would be stronger and more widespread if Griner were a male star athlete who fits perfectly into a traditionally accepted role.
“If it were LeBron, I’d be home, right?” said Vanessa Nygaard, Griner’s coach with the Mercury. “It’s a statement about the value of women. It is a statement about the value of a black person. It’s a statement about the value of a gay person. “
Nygaard may be right. Male athletes are the beneficiaries of a sports ecosystem in which their leagues raise more television time, their endorsements generate more money, and their achievements are more praised. If it were James arrested, or Stephen Curry or Tom Brady, it is reasonable that his fame would drive a more fervent call for release than has been the case with Griner.
Updated
July 8, 2022, 06:18 ET
On the other hand, imagine what Russia would ask for in exchange for LeBron James: the bailout would likely far outnumber a single arms dealer languishing in an American prison, especially given the tension between Biden and Putin.
If this were James arrested, well, many more than a few hundred people would have come forward to rally for his release. On Wednesday, an estimated 300 people gathered at Mercury’s arena, Phoenix’s Footprint Center, to show their support for Griner. The building has 17,000 seats.
I visited the arena in April for a Mercury preseason game and was amazed at Griner’s silent recognition in a city where he has given so much. Known as BG, she helped lead the Mercury to a WNBA title in 2014, but is admired there for helping the homeless and advocating for LGBTQ rights. Local sports radio announcers barely mentioned her, but continued on to competing with the Phoenix Suns in the NBA playoffs.
At the time, Griner’s teammates at Mercury were following the example of his advisers, who had decided to remain discreet and not raise a fuss that could provoke Putin’s anger. It was obvious that the players wanted to be more frank. As they talked about how much they loved their partner and followed the advised path, the ferocity and pain in their eyes showed me that they meant more.
The approach changed a few weeks later when the U.S. State Department declared that Griner had been “arrested by mistake.” The league and its players began to roar, the same thing they usually do on urgent social issues. The teams paid tribute to Griner by sticking his initials on local tracks across the league. On social media, at press conferences and interviews, players demanded that Biden and the White House do whatever it took to bring her home.
“BG free,” DeWanna Bonner of the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun told the press. “We are BG We love BG Free her.”
The NBA joined the heart. Players wore “We are BG” jerseys to training sessions held during the NBA Finals. James, Curry and many other stars spoke up, demanding their freedom. Athletes from other sports joined. Following Griner’s guilty verdict on Thursday, Megan Rapinoe, the star star of the U.S. women’s soccer team, wore a white jacket with Griner’s initials sewn on her lapel while receiving the Presidential Medal of the United States. Freedom.
What a roller coaster of strategy and excitement. Thursday’s hearing took another scorching turn, seeing Griner there in court, begging for clemency.
“This situation with BG, is difficult for everyone on our team,” Nygaard said before the home game on Thursday night against Liberty.
The court hearing and the admission of guilt. Images of Griner, hands tied, eyes wide open, surrounded by Russian police.
“When your friend is in danger,” Nygaard added, and that friend says “he’s scared, it’s hard to get away from these things.”
One hundred and forty-one days, and counting.
Brittney Griner is away from home and we don’t know when she will be released.