Keystone
After Brittney Griner was sentenced to nine years in a camp in Russia, her US basketball team sent a message of solidarity.
Before the away game against the Connecticut Sun on Thursday in the North American women’s professional league WNBA, the Phoenix Mercury expressed their support by folding their arms with the opponents before the game at the center circle in “42 seconds of silence for our sister”.
Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison on Thursday by a Russian court for illegal drug possession. The 31-year-old has been in custody since mid-February this year after so-called vape cartridges and hashish oil were found on her when she entered Sheremetyevo Airport. It is said to have been 0.5 grams. This was ruled as illegal drug possession and attempted smuggling. The court saw no mitigating circumstances. Griner had pleaded guilty.
The Mercury team watched the verdict as they warmed up before the game against the Sun. “None of us actually wanted to play today,” explained Griner’s teammate Skylar Diggins-Smith. «How can you approach the game with a clear head? All of us cried before the game. But we must keep trying to keep her spirit alive.” The Mercury lost the game against the Sun 64:77.
The US government had accused Moscow of a politically motivated process from the start. Griner could be released if Moscow and Washington, despite their deep political differences, agree on an exchange of prisoners.