WNBA player Brittney Griner, convicted of smuggling drugs into Russia and sentenced to 9-1/2 years in a Russian penal colony, has spoken out for the first time since being exchanged for Russian arms dealer Viktor “Merchant of Death” Bout.
Griner, arrested on drug charges in February after security agents found cannabis-infused vaping cartridges in her luggage at a Moscow airport, says the ordeal in Russia was a “battle at every turn.”
US Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) basketball player Brittney Griner, who was detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport and later charged with illegal possession of cannabis, leaves the courtroom after the court’s verdict in Khimki outside Moscow, on August 4, 2022. (KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images)
The Russians finally released Griner on December 8 after being exchanged for convicted terrorist and international arms dealer Viktor Bout.
“It feels so good to be home! The last ten months have been a battle at every turn,” she said in an Instagram post on Friday, the New York Post reported.
She said her imprisonment made her dig “deep in to keep my faith” that she would not be forced to spend nearly ten years in a Russian prison.
“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,” she said to fans reading her post.
She went on to promise a return to the WNBA, for which she plays for the Phoenix Mercury.
“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,” Griner wrote.
Griner also thanked President Biden for helping get her released and hoped he would do the same for unlawfully imprisoned American Paul Whelan.
“President Biden, you brought me home, and I know you are committed to bringing Paul Whelan and all Americans home too,’ Griner wrote. “I will use my platform to do whatever I can to help you. I also encourage everyone that played a part in bringing me home to continue their efforts to bring all Americans home. Every family deserves to be whole.”
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