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Brittney Griner's detention in Russia extended through at least July 2.

Brittney Griner Speaks Out from Russian Prison: 'All the Support and Love Are Definitely Helping'


Brittney Griner released a statement from Russia on Tuesday, after receiving birthday messages from friends, family and fans around the world. Griner met with her attorneys, Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov, on October 18, which was also the WNBA star's 32nd birthday. In a statement shared with PEOPLE, Griner said the following: "Thank you everyone for fighting so hard to get me home. All the support and love are definitely helping me," said Griner. The athlete, who has been in Russian confinement for eight months, was given numerous birthday wishes and letters from "all over the world" on Tuesday, her lawyers told PEOPLE.

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Brittney Griner, lawyers prep for appeal hearing in Russia


In the Moscow jail where WNBA star Brittney Griner has spent the past eight months, there is a basketball hoop, but no basketball. Her lawyers offered to bring her one, but Griner told them not to; it's too painful to think about. "She said, 'Maybe if I'm here longer, but not now,'" one of her attorneys, Maria Blagovolina, said from Moscow on Wednesday. Right now, Griner is focused on her upcoming appeal hearing Tuesday in Moscow regional court. Experts say there is no chance the court will overturn her conviction, although it's conceivable the three-judge panel could slightly reduce her nine-year sentence for smuggling cannabis oil into the country.

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Brittney Griner reportedly turned down the opportunity to play basketball in prison because it's 'too painful' to practice


  • WNBA superstar Brittney Griner has been wrongfully detained in Russia since her February arrest.
  • Her prison has a basketball hoop, but when her lawyers offered to bring her a ball, she refused.
  • ESPN reports that Griner told her attorneys basketball is "too painful to think about" right now.

Brittney Griner can't bring herself to think about basketball right now. The WNBA superstar and two-time Olympic gold medalist has not touched a basketball in the eight months she's spent wrongfully detained in Russia. Though she has access to a hoop at the prison where she's been held, Griner declined her attorneys' offer to bring her a basketball, suggesting that it's "too painful" for her to play the sport she loves under such dire circumstances. "She said, 'Maybe if I'm here longer, but not now,'" Maria Blagovolina, one of Griner's lawyers, told ESPN's TJ Quinn.


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When is Brittney Griner’s appeal hearing and what does it mean for WNBA star?


WNBA star Brittney Griner has been locked up in Moscow for eight months and may face years of further incarceration if an upcoming appeal does not sway the Russian courts. Griner is planning to appeal the nine year prison sentence she was ordered to serve after a Russian court convicted her of smuggling and possessing prohibited substances.The nine year sentence was just shy of the 10-year maximum penalty for the crime, which Griner’s lawyers called "excessive." Her lawyers pointed out that the average sentence in cases like hers tent to be around five years, and about a third of the convicts serving time for those crimes are granted parole, according to ESPN.

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Brittney Griner's detention in Russia extended through at least July 2, Russian state news reports


Brittney Griner latest: Phoenix Mercury get State Dept. briefing and Hall of Famer calls for release

US basketball star Brittney Griner -- who has been held in Russia since February on accusations of drug smuggling will remain in Russian custody through at least July 2, after a Russian court extended her detention, Russian state news agency TASS reported Tuesday. Griner, 31, has been officially classified as "wrongfully detained," a US State Department official told CNN in May. Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport in February, when Russian authorities claimed she had cannabis oil in her luggage and accused her of smuggling significant amounts of a narcotic substance, an offense punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The two-time Olympic gold medalist and star of the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury plays in Russia during that league's offseason."We are on Day 116 since BG has been wrongfully detained," Mercury head coach Vanessa Nygaard said, adding, "She's our teammate, she's an American and we want her back home." For star guard Diana Taurasi, the State Department's announcement that Griner's detention was wrongful signaled to the team that officials are taking the situation seriously, she said Monday.

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