自殺も考えた　ロシア服役の米バスケ選手、獄中の苦難語る

【ロサンゼルスＡＦＰ＝時事】米女子プロバスケットボール（ＷＮＢＡ）のブリトニー・グライナーが、ロシアで収監されていた時期について、「人間以下」になったように感じ、自殺を考えたこともあったと明かした。（写真は、米女子プロバスケットボールのフェニックス・マーキュリーでプレーするブリトニー・グライナー）
　グライナーは２０２２年２月に違法薬物密輸の疑いによりロシアの空港で逮捕され、懲役９年の有罪判決を受けると、矯正労働収容所に移送されたが、同１２月に囚人交換で釈放された。
　５月に放送される米ＡＢＣテレビによるインタビューの抜粋で、「すべてを終わらせる」ことを考えたときはあったかと問われたグライナーは、涙ながらに「ええ。乗り越えるのは無理だと思った」と語った。
　懲役９年を言い渡されたときは「分からないことが多すぎて、何もかもがすごく怖かった」。９か月服役した所内の劣悪な環境にも言及し、「マットレスには大きな血痕が残っていて、石けんも、トイレットペーパーもなかった。自分が人間以下だと感じた瞬間だった」と明かした。
　グライナーは、大麻オイル入りの吸引カートリッジを持っていたとして逮捕・起訴された。本人は後に法律違反を犯すつもりはなかったと話し、カートリッジを持っていたのは偶然だったと証言。インタビューでは、カートリッジが荷物に入っているのに気づいたときのことを聞かれ、「人生が終わった」と思ったと答えている。
　当時はグライナーを含めた一部の米国選手が、ＷＮＢＡのオフシーズンの収入源としてロシアでプレーしていたが、釈放後のグライナーは、国外でプレーすることは二度とないと話している。
　インタビューの本編は５月１日に放送予定。同月にはロシアでの苦難をつづった回顧録も出版される。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/04/24-16:36）

WNBA superstar Brittney Griner has revealed she contemplated suicide during her nine-month ordeal in a Russian jail that left her feeling less than a human.
Griner, who was detained in a Moscow airport in February 2022 on drug charges before being sentenced to nine years in prison, made the revelation in excerpts of an upcoming interview with ABC Television released on Tuesday.
Yeah, I just didn't think I could get through what I needed to get through, an emotional Griner said when asked by her interviewer on ABC's 20/20 news show if she had considered ending it all.
In other segments of the interview, Griner, who was freed in late 2022 as part of a prisoner swap, gave an insight into the grim conditions of her incarceration at a Russian penal colony.
The mattress had a huge blood stain on it. I had no soap, no toilet paper. That was the moment where I just felt less than a human, Griner said.
Griner said at one stage during her imprisonment she was ushered into a room to find a huge knife sitting on the table.
And I was like 'Now, this is going to be a ride,' she said. You've got to do what you got to do to survive.
Griner was arrested and charged by Russian officials for possessing vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage as she passed through airport security.
She later testified she had no intention of breaking the law and had packed the cartridges by accident.
Asked by ABC what she felt when she realized that she had left the cartridges in her luggage, she replied: My life is over right here.
Later in the interview, Griner recalls the moment she was handed her nine-year prison term.
I was just so scared for everything because there's so much unknown, she said.
A two-time Olympic gold medalist, WNBA champion and LGBTQ trailblazer, Griner was eventually released in December 2022 as part of a deal that saw her swapped for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout -- known as the Merchant of Death.
At the time, Griner was one of several US-based players playing in Russia during the WNBA off-season in order to boost her income.
She has vowed never to play basketball abroad again for clubs following her jail sentence.
Griner's full interview, which comes ahead of the release next month of a memoir by the basketball player detailing her ordeal, will be aired on May 1.