Brittney Griner has been allowed to communicate with her loved ones via email and letters during her ongoing detainment in Russia.
Griner’s agent has set up an email account to allow her to communicate with her supporters after months of barely any contact from the outside world.
However, any email will be printed out and delivered intermittentlyGriner by her lawyer–only after they are vetted by Russian officials. Griner will not be able to access the email account herself.
Griner will then write a response on paper and her attorneys will take a picture of the response. Griner will also be allowed to dictate the answer to her lawyer if she has no paper.
Griner faces drug smuggling charges that carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Russian Federal Customs Service claimed Griner had vape cartridges containing the marijuana concentrate hashish oil in her luggage. Many feel she is a political pawn.
Los Angeles Sparks forward Amanda Zahui B. emailed Griner months back. Speaking to ESPN, she revealed she had received a response and that the basketball champion seemed reasonably upbeat.
“When she responded to my second letter, it blew me away,” Zahui B. said. “I was like, ‘She responded!!’ In my third letter, I was like, ‘Hey best friend, we are officially best friends now.'”
Zahui B added, “She jokes in her letters. I don’t know how she does it with what she’s going through. She’s an amazing soul. She brings light in a situation like this. I don’t think a lot of people could manage to do that.”
Earlier this month, the U.S. government finally declared her to be “wrongfully detained.”
“The Department of State has determined that the Russian Federation has wrongfully detained U.S. citizen Brittney Griner,” a State Department spokesperson told ESPN. “With this determination, the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens will lead the interagency team for securing Brittney Griner’s release.”
