COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Gamecocks basketball coach Dawn Staley has issued her first reaction to the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner from a Russian prison.
Staley tweeted Thursday morning “God’s grace is SUFFICIENT! @britneygriner is home! I love you BG!”
Russia freed Griner Thursday in a dramatic high-level prisoner exchange, with the U.S. releasing notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, American officials said. Griner is a two-time Olympic gold medalist whose months long imprisonment on drug charges brought unprecedented attention to the population of wrongful detainees.
The Gamecocks coach has been a vocal supporter of Griner since her imprisonment began, usually tweeting daily about what she says was the injustice of the basketball player’s detainment. Staley and Griner have known each other for years, and Staley coached Griner in the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021.
Just a day before the release, Staley tweeted, “#FreeBrittneyGriner 293 days my sister and friend @britneygriner has been wrongfully detained in a Russian prison. God’s grace is upon you BG. WE LOVE YOU BG. #WeAreBG.”
That continued a pattern of Staley marking how many days Griner had been detained.
She also drew attention to the case through multiple interviews and even wore t-shirts calling for Griner to be freed. She also wore pins that said “Free BG” or “We are BG.”
Griner was arrested at the Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport in February when customs officials said they found vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage. She pleaded guilty in July, though still faced trial because admitting guilt in Russia’s judicial system does not automatically end a case.
She acknowledged in court that she possessed the canisters, but said she had no criminal intent and said their presence in her luggage was due to hasty packing.
Before being sentenced on Aug. 4 and receiving a punishment her lawyers said was out of line for the offense, an emotional Griner apologized “for my mistake that I made and the embarrassment that I brought on them.” She added: “I hope in your ruling it does not end my life.”
Griner’s arrest made her the most high-profile American jailed abroad. Her status as an openly gay Black woman, locked up in a country where authorities have been hostile to the LBGTQ community, infused racial, gender and social dynamics into her legal saga and made each development a matter of international importance.
Her case not only brought unprecedented publicity to the dozens of Americans wrongfully detained by foreign governments, but it also emerged as a major inflection point in U.S.-Russia diplomacy at a time of deteriorating relations prompted by Moscow’s war against Ukraine.
The news was not all good for Americans detained abroad, especially Paul Whelan. Whelan is a former U.S. Marine accused by Russia of being a spy. He was arrested in the country in 2018 and given a 16-year sentence in 2020.
“This was not a choice of which American to bring home,” President Biden said, adding that the Russian government appeared to be treating the cases differently because Whelan was accused of being a spy. “While we have not yet succeeded in securing Paul’s release, we will not give up.”