Brittney Griner writing memoir on Russian detainment

Brittney Griner, the WNBA star who was devoid of Russia late in 2015 after being wrongfully apprehended, is composing a narrative due out next spring.

” After an exceptionally tough 10 months in detainment, I am grateful to have actually been saved and to be house. Readers will hear my story and comprehend why I’m so happy for the profusion of assistance from individuals throughout the world,” Griner stated in a press release Tuesday from publisher Alfred A. Knopf.

The two-time Olympic gold-medalist invested almost 300 days in Russian custody after being apprehended in February 2022 and sentenced to 9 years in jail under drug-smuggling charges after authorities in the nation discovered marijuana oil in her travel luggage. Griner, who the United States State Department considered wrongfully apprehended, was launched last December in a detainee swap that included Russian arms dealership Viktor Bout.

Griner had actually for years used a Russian females’s basketball group throughout the WNBA off-season and was apprehended in a Moscow airport as she took a trip to rejoin the group.

” That day was the start of an abstruse duration in my life which just now am I prepared to share,” she stated in the news release. “The main factor I took a trip back to Russia for work that day was due to the fact that I wished to make my other half, household, and colleagues proud.”.

Her detainment highlighted the income caps WNBA gamers deal with in the United States– which has actually pressed professional athletes to go overseas to make more throughout their off-seasons.

She will make her go back to the WNBA next season after signing a 1 year handle February with the Phoenix Mercury.

The book statement follows Russian authorities last month apprehended Wall Street Journal press reporter Evan Gershkovich, who the United States State Department considered wrongfully apprehended on Monday. Apprehended American Paul Whelan has actually likewise been kept in Russian custody considering that 2018.

” By composing this book, I likewise intend to raise awareness surrounding other Americans wrongfully apprehended abroad,” Griner stated.