An ex-US Marine who has previously spent three years detained in Russian prison has told Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan to keep faith through their internment.
Trevor Reed, who was released in April, has shared some advice for the pair and also labelled the Russian legal system as a sham.
WBNA star Griner has been sentenced to nine years in prison after Russian authorities found her guilty of smuggling drugs into the country.
The CCTV footage showing Griner being searched just before she was detained
She was found with less than a gram of cannabis oil – which she uses to treat basketball injuries – in her luggage and there’s concern she’s being used as a political pawn in the backdrop of US opposition to the war in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, former US Marine Paul Whelan was sentenced to 16 years in prison on espionage charges by a Moscow court in 2020.
Trevor Reed’s comments on Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan
“Just hang in there, just know people are fighting for you,” Reed told CBS, when discussing the pair.
“While you’re there, you’re going to be meeting with lawyers, there’s a lot of waiting.
“You may be requesting expertise or trying to find new evidence in order to appeal the ruling of the previous court during that time, and that appeal could take years, basically.
“But in the end all of those appeals are fake, they’re as fake as the first trial you receive. All courts in Russia are fake.”
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Why was Trevor Reed imprisoned in Russia?
Like Griner, Reed was sentenced to nine years in prison, in his case for allegedly assaulting a police officer in 2019.
That sentence was subject to widespread condemnation from the US. The American ambassador to Russia was present in the courtroom during the trial and called the proceedings “preposterous”.
He said the judge was laughing in the courtroom and, despite multiple security cameras that should’ve captured the incident, Russian authorities said there was no footage.
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