Member-only story
The sad case of Brittney Griner
All completely expected
Us Australians are somewhat the experts in these cases of drugs found on person during border crossings. All throughout South Asia, Australians are languishing in jails or have faced execution for having various amounts of illegal substances on them. Some garner our sympathy and pull on our heart strings, others we seem to be happy to throw to the wolves. We are not even especially consistent in our views as we decide from our lounge chairs who is guilty and deserves it, and who is an innocent pawn or who just made a simple mistake.
So the many reactions from America over the arrest of Brittney Griner on the 17th of February, her temporary disappearance, then resurfacing as someone charged with importation of drugs- is hardly surprising.
My experience
In my many years of Russia, I understood a few salient facts- there were certain privileges extended to me as a foreigner-I felt like a localised rock star and I even had access to the higher echelons of society than the average Russian. I knew Police Chiefs, lawyers, judges, prosecutors and business owners of significant influence. The thing is, also, as a foreigner I absolutely had to surround myself with such as a form of insurance.
