It’s the story of an oversight, “ like you can forget your keys in your car, the sunglasses on your head or your phone in your pocket. » Except that this oversight will cost very, very, very dearly to Brittney Grinerwho therefore took on board cartridges of electronic cigarettes which contained cannabis oil while packing his bag in a hurry, when leaving for Russia.
“At that point, I just threw all my stuff in there, closed my bags and was like, 'OK, I'm ready'.” she says like this.
In Russia, where she plays between two WNBA seasons, these products are however prohibited and on February 17, 2022, Brittney Griner was arrested at Moscow airport. She was then placed in detention… a week before Russia invaded Ukraine, leading to enormous diplomatic tensions with the United States.
Very difficult detention conditions
The oversight, which would have (almost) been without consequence a few months previously, therefore comes at the worst time, and takes on crazy proportions. The interior of the Phoenix Mercury is thus sentenced to 9 years in prison for drug possession and trafficking. Brittney Griner will spend 10 months in Russian jails before being able to return to the United States in exchange for Viktor Bout, an arms dealer.
In an interview with ABC, the WNBA star looked back on her 10 months of detention. The two-time Olympic champion was even detained in a labor camp in Mordovia, where she had to cut fabric to make Russian military uniforms. Under extremely difficult conditions.
The WNBA player didn't always have toilet paper, the toothpaste was 15 years out of date and “the mattress had a huge blood stain on it, even though you are given two thin sheets. So you're basically sleeping on the bars.” testifies Brittney Griner.
Brittney Griner thought the worst
To make matters worse, it's freezing cold. “Really cold”specifies the player, who had to cut her dreads during her detention, for fear that spiders would settle there. “It’s a labor camp. You go there to work… there is no rest. [..] My dreads started to freeze. They would just stay wet and cold, and I would get sick. We must do everything we can to survive. »
During the interview, the Phoenix player even admitted to having very dark thoughts about getting out of detention. “I wanted to kill myself more than once in the first few weeks”, admits Brittney Griner. “I just wanted to leave this place. »
Except she didn't know if the Russian authorities would have handed over his body to his family. Coming out of this hell, the player hopes to play with Team USA in Paris in order to win a third Olympic medal for her country.
