Brittney Griner’s Wife Cherelle Speaks Out After The Athlete’s Appeal Was Denied + Gives An Update On How She’s Doing Amid Griner’s 9-Year Prison Sentence: The Crime & Punishment Is Disproportionate At Its Finest

Brittney Griner & Wife Cherelle Griner

Brittney Griner’s Wife Cherelle Speaks Out After The Athlete’s Appeal Was Denied + Gives An Update On How She’s Doing Amid Griner’s 9-Year Prison Sentence: The Crime & Punishment Is Disproportionate At Its Finest

Brittney Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner is speaking out following a Russian court denying the WNBA star’s appeal on drug charges.

During a recent interview on The View, Cherelle Griner told the co-hosts that the denied appeal was “just disheartening” and while she understands the law, the ruling is “just absurd.”

“I understand being in the field of law that every state, every country has their own rules, but this is just absurd. The crime and the punishment is disproportionate at its finest … There are people convicted of murder in Russia who [have] a sentence way less than B.G., and it just makes absolutely no sense to me.”

Brittney Griner & Wife Cherelle Griner

Cherelle continued,

“That was the complete end of it. There’s nothing more to expect from a legal standpoint and all eggs are in basket, you know, for our government and for America to see how important this issue is. This could happen to anybody and we should be praying that we have a country that recognizes the importance of that and are willing to actually go get our Americans and bring them back home.”

As previously reported, Brittney Griner has been detained in Russia since February after Russian authorities allegedly discovered vaporizer cartridges containing less than a gram of hash oil in her luggage at the Sheremetyevo International Airport. She pled guilty to the charges but insisted that she had no intention of breaking the law. However, a Russian court ultimately found Brittney guilty of the drug charges back in August and sentenced her to nine years in prison.

Brittney Griner

Sadly, on October 25, Brittney Griner’s appeal was denied, further solidifying the WNBA star’s nine-year prison sentence.

During her appeal hearing, Brittney urged the court to reassess her sentence and apologized for her “mistake.”

“I beg that the court takes in all of the stakes that was overlooked in the first court and reassess my sentence here,”

Brittney said, adding that it has been “traumatic” to be away from her family.

When asked about her thoughts on whether Brittney’s sentence was politically motivated, Cherelle Griner told “The View” that

“there’s no other way for me to see it except the fact that this is political.”

Cherelle noted that Brittney is an international basketball player that’s won championships, played undefeated seasons, and was awarded MVP of WNBA All-Star Weekend, proving she is no criminal but rather an upstanding citizen.

“To see that the totality of the circumstances of who she is as a person was not taken into account when they rendered a decision, it makes me feel like this – at this point – has to be political.” 

Since Brittney’s detainment in February, Cherelle Griner has been working to bring awareness to her case through her initiative “We Are BG,” which is committed to bringing all wrongfully detained Americans home. She also met with President Joe Biden on Sept. 16.

While President Joe Biden previously discussed a potential deal to exchange for Griner for a couple of Russian citizens, there has seemingly been no progress in the efforts.

Cherelle Griner revealed to the ladies on The View that she spoke with Brittney a week before her appeal hearing and that the couple has only spoken three times since Griner has been detained.

“Her mental it’s not there, and she told me, ‘I’m really just trying to hold on to the last bit of you that I can remember.’ We spoke only three times so far out of the eight months that [Brittney’s] been sentenced.”

She went on to tell co-host Whoopi Goldberg that she’s been in contact with the U.S. State Department since Brittney was first detained, but much of what goes on behind the scenes is considered classified information, so she receives little to no information.

“For the most part they kind of try to keep me updated as possible on what’s happening with the negotiations.”

What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below!

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