After one month and one week of her release from Russian custody on Dec. 8, the Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner was seen surprisingly at Phoenix, Arizona for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day march on Monday, January 16. She was spotted alongside her wife Cherelle Griner as they posed for pictures.
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Brittney Griner — Brittney’s Detention And Release From Russian Custody
The WNBA basketball player was arrested on February 2022 at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport for having in her possession vape cartridge which is banned in Russia. All thanks to her wife Cherelle’s cry for help, the United States of America was made aware of Brittney’s situation.
After Cherelle spoke up, she pled with U.S. President Joe Biden to not allow her wife Brittney to rot in Russian jail. Other also celebrities joined in on the request to have Brittney released, and a hashtag “#FreeBrittneyGriner” was made.
After Brittney was found guilty in August and was sentenced to serve 9 years in prison, the U.S. government didn’t lose hope of seeing her returned back to them, safely. It didn’t take long for plans to have a prisoner swap— Brittney in exchange with Russian Arms dealer Victor Bout —to be set in motion.
Viktor Bout was sentenced to 25 years in American prison for conspiring to kill Americans and he has served up to 11 years of his sentence. While plans for Brittney’s return were being made, a plan to include Paul Whelan a former U.S. Marine who was also wrongfully detained by the Russians since 2018—in a two-for-one swap was also declared.
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Unfortunately, the Russian government chose to release only Brittney. Brittney spent 10 months in Russian prison but on Friday, Dec. 9, Brittney returned safely to the U.S. soil.
Brittney Griner — Cherelle’s Experience After Brittney’s Return
On the day of Brittney’s release, President Joe Biden excitedly issued a statement through the White House saying, “Good morning folks, and it is a good morning.”
According to PEOPLE, Cherelle visited the Oval Office and heard the good news firsthand. Some quality hours later, while Cherelle was standing on the tarmac inside a bunker, she saw her wife from the window of the plane, and coincidentally, their eyes met.
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“We were both just instantly crying,” said Cherelle. “I was standing there full of tears and someone ran over and handed me a handkerchief. I definitely needed it.”
Cherelle went on to share that the first night of their reunion was spent wide awake, discussing the events of the past 10 months. “The first night, we didn’t sleep at all. We just talked all night long and all morning.
“And it was so good to be able to do it without three weeks in between the conversation, because for 10 months we were passing letters. It was great to have that dialogue back and forth.”
8 days after Brittney’s release, Brittney wrote a thank you message on her Instagram story on Dec. 16, thanking everyone that had a hand in her release, and a special thank you message to President Joe Biden.
The post featured several photos of the two-time Olympic gold medalist stepping down from a plane. The post which was captioned “It feels so good to be home,” reads: “The last 10 months have been a battle at every turn. I dug deep to keep my faith and it was the love from so many of you that helped keep me going. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone for your help.”
Brittney also took the moment to announce her plans to return to playing for the WNBA. “I also want to make one thing very clear: I intend to play basketball for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury this season. And in doing so, I look forward to being able to say ‘thank you’ to those of you who advocated, wrote, and posted for me in person soon.”
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