Friday 5 August 2022 03:49 AM Brittney Griner can hardly talk prepares to appeal pot sentence before sent to ... trends now

Friday 5 August 2022 03:49 AM Brittney Griner can hardly talk prepares to appeal pot sentence before sent to ... trends now
Friday 5 August 2022 03:49 AM Brittney Griner can hardly talk prepares to appeal pot sentence before sent to ... trends now

Friday 5 August 2022 03:49 AM Brittney Griner can hardly talk prepares to appeal pot sentence before sent to ... trends now

Brittney Griner's attorney Maria Blagovolina has said her client, the WNBA star, is 'very upset' and can 'hardly talk' following Thursday's sentence in which she was given nine years in a penal colony.

'She is very upset, very stressed,' Blagovolina said to reporters. 'She can hardly talk, honestly. So it's a difficult time for her.'

'When we saw Brittney, I think it was Tuesday, we told her, 'see you on Thursday'. And she said, 'see you on doomsday' so it looks like she was right,' Blagovolina said.

Basketball player Brittney Griner stands inside a defendants' cage before the court's verdict in Khimki City court in Khimki outside Moscow, Russia on Thursday

Basketball player Brittney Griner stands inside a defendants' cage before the court's verdict in Khimki City court in Khimki outside Moscow, Russia on Thursday

Brittney Griner's attorney Maria Blagovolina has said her client, the WNBA star is 'very upset' and can 'hardly talk' following Thursday's sentence in which she was given nine years in a penal colony

Brittney Griner's attorney Maria Blagovolina has said her client, the WNBA star is 'very upset' and can 'hardly talk' following Thursday's sentence in which she was given nine years in a penal colony

'She is very upset, very stressed,' Blagovolina, right, said to reporters. 'She can hardly talk, honestly. So it's a difficult time for her.'

'She is very upset, very stressed,' Blagovolina, right, said to reporters. 'She can hardly talk, honestly. So it's a difficult time for her.'

Griner's defense attorneys are planning to appeal the verdict and she now had 10 days in which to do so, with a hearing expected next week.

Out of the 692 prisons in Russia, 684 are penal colonies which are described as a 'settlement established for punishing criminals by forced labor and isolation from society.'

Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition leader, lawyer, and anti-corruption activist is currently serving his sentence in a penal colony which he has described as a 'friendly concentration camp,' with cameras 'everywhere.'

On Thursday night, the head coach of Griner's WNBA team said the nine-year sentence handed out to its star player was devastating -- even though it was no surprise.

Russian prosecutors requested that US basketball star Brittney Griner be sentenced to nine and a half years on drug smuggling charges

Russian prosecutors requested that US basketball star Brittney Griner be sentenced to nine and a half years on drug smuggling charges

Griner sits inside a defendant's cage before the court's verdict in Khimki City court in Khimki outside Moscow

Griner sits inside a defendant's cage before the court's verdict in Khimki City court in Khimki outside Moscow

'We knew this was coming, we've been prepared for it,' said Vanessa Nygaard, Phoenix Mercury's head coach, noting the minuscule acquittal rates in Russian courts where Griner was convicted of smuggling drugs into the country.

'We know we weren't hanging our hopes on the Russian justice system.

'But we were literally getting ready to come out for shoot around today when this was going on,' she said. 'Players were watching it.'

She said it made it hard to concentrate on Thursday night's WNBA game against the Connecticut Sun.

'The emotions have escalated during the day,' Nygaard said.

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