*Brittney Griner hit up an MLK event on Monday in Phoenix where she surprised the people gathered for the march to celebrate what would have been Martin Luther King Jr.’s 94th birthday.
The Phoenix Mercury star and her wife Cherelle greeted and took pics with excited fans, TMZ reports. Griner missed the 2021-22 WNBA season following her arrest and subsequent conviction for possessing a vape pen of marijuana hashish oil at an airport in Russia in February.
Griner served ten months in a Russian penal colony before President Joe Biden negotiated her release for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, dubbed the ‘Merchant of Death’. Griner has since called on her fans to pen letters in support of American Paul Whelan who remains imprisoned in Russia.Â
Griner’s release from a Russian penal colony was announced on Dec. 8, as part of a trade with Bout who is famously known for fueling the Liberian civil war by providing weapons for some of the worst conflicts throughout the world and Africa. Bout spent over 14 years behind bars in the U.S.Â
READ MORE:Â Brittney Griner Releases Statement Saying She Intends to Play Basketball This Season | VIDEO
HAPPY TO BE HOME: @PhoenixMercury star @brittneygriner makes appearance at #AZMLK Festival in Phoenix.
BG posed for pictures with fans.
Talked about being Houstonians.
Says she’s happy to be home after time in Russian prison.#News #AZ #BG42 #Hoops #WNBA pic.twitter.com/G2ocB8fEqO
— Jonathan McCall (@JonathanMcCall) January 16, 2023
The Biden Administration attempted to secure Griner’s release along with Whelan, a former American marine who has been detained in Russia for four years. President Biden noted that Russia declined to release Whelan as officials are handling his case differently.Â
Griner penned a handwritten letter to her Instagram followers asking them to advocate for Whelan’s safe return home.
“My family is whole and now, thanks to you, we are fortunate to get to spend the holidays together,” she wrote in December. “However, there remain too many families with loved ones wrongfully detained.”
Griner explained, “Those families stood alongside you and all who supported the #WeAreBG campaign to bring me home, and it’s our turn to support them. I hope you’ll join me in writing to Paul Whelan and continuing to advocate for other Americans to be rescued and returned to their families.”
Griner included in her letter Whelan’s mailing address where he is receiving packages. Check out the full post below.
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