The wife of Brittney Griner says the US basketball star is “like a hostage” after being jailed for nine years in Russia on drug charges.
Griner, 31, was sentenced on August 4, having been detained in February for possessing less than a gram of cannabis oil.
Cherelle Griner told CBS News on Thursday that she felt her wife’s punishment was “not balanced”.
A hearing for Brittney Griner’s appeal will take place on October 25.
Griner, a double Olympic gold medallist, admitted possessing the cannabis oil, which was found in vape cartridges in her luggage at a Russian airport, but told the court she had made an “honest mistake”.
Her wife says she is “not OK” and has only been able to speak to the WNBA star twice over the phone since August.
“The first conversation I had with her, it was just delightful to hear her voice,” she said.
“But the second... the minute I hung up I think I cried for about two days straight, I did not get out of my bed.
“I didn’t know if she had anything left in her tank to wake up every day and be in a place where she has no one. “
Griner had been playing basketball in Russia since 2014, representing UMMC Ekaterinburg in the EuroLeague during the WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association) off-season.
The Phoenix Mercury player is regarded as one of the best in the world but her wife says she is now at the “weakest moment” in her life.
“I work in the legal field, of course I believe that a crime should warrant a punishment but it must be balanced.
“It tears me to pieces to see that this is not balanced for my wife right now. So I want people to see, has she not suffered enough? She has truly suffered beyond her crime already.”
Cherelle Griner also fears for what could happen if an agreement is not reached between the US and Russia for her release before the date of the appeal. Reports in US media suggest imprisoned Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout — known as the Merchant of Death — could be transferred by Washington to the Russian authorities as part of the deal.
“She is now in the position where she could be moved to a labour camp. And my brain can’t even fathom that,” she said. “She is very afraid of being left alone and forgotten in Russia. But I don’t have anything I can say other than, ‘your life matters to me’.
“And I will pray every day that the decision makers in this situation will have mercy, and they will sit down and they too will see that her life matters.”
