“Welcome home Champ!” Martina Navratilova expresses her delight following Brittney Griner’s release from the Russian prison
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Brittney Griner and Martina Navratilova
Tennis icon Martina Navratilova becomes the latest person from the sporting world to congratulate Brittney Griner for her release from Russia. The WNBA player had been caught in Russia for possession of hashish oil, banned cannabis in the country, and was arrested from an airport in Moscow in February 2022.
Undergoing trial in July, Griner pleaded guilty to the charge as she had been using the oil for medical purposes for quite some time. The argument was not however sufficient in the Russian court. She was sentenced to 9-years in prison in August this year despite multiple attempts by the USA to secure a release for her.
Finally, it was a prisoner exchange that freed Griner. The US government decided to release Viktor Bout, an arms dealer who had been jailed in 2011 and was serving a sentence of 25 years after being found guilty of conspiracy to kill American citizens and providing aid to terrorist organizations.
Griner and Bout were picked for a 1-on-1 exchange with both being allowed to return to their respective homes. Reacting to the news following Joe Biden‘s announcement of the deal, Navratilova said, “Brittney is going home- thank you to all who made it happen- welcome home Champ!!!”
Martina Navratilova had long been fighting for Brittney Griner’s release
As it’s well known, Navratilova is quite active on Twitter voicing her opinions on various things. Of this, Griner’s case was quite discussed by the former tennis pro who joined many of the protesting Americans wishing to have Griner released from the Russian prison.
Over the course of the last 9 months when Griner has been fighting for herself in Russia, Navratilova used her Twitter account to reach as many as possible. The pressure from the voters was one of the biggest reasons that the Joe Biden-led government had to work its way into getting Griner back home. Below are some of the tweets Navratilova tweeted during Griner’s time in Russia.
While there has been a lot of politics that went behind the scenes to get Griner back home, her fans and family will be just happy to have her back in her native country. As for Navratilova, it would be another win for her activism that she does via her social handles to speak for issues of not only the USA but the entire world.
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Sarthak Shitole
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