Brittney Griner sentence brings outrage and cries of ‘Free BG’

The nine-year sentence given to WNBA star Brittney Griner on Thursday was not a shock to legal observers who had closely followed the case and the Russian criminal justice system, but it still unnerved many, with Griner’s friends and colleagues reacting with shock and outrage.

Griner made a tearful plea just before a Russian court found her guilty on Thursday of trying to bring illegal drugs into the country, saying she “made an honest mistake and I hope that in your ruling, that it doesn’t end my life here.” But it made no difference as the judge handed down a harsh but basically preordained nine-year sentence and fined the 31-year-old star basketball player 1 million rubles (around $16,300). She had pleaded guilty last month to carrying vape cartridges with cannabis oil into the country

“Free BG” echoed on Twitter and among sports stars.

Kendrick Perkins, a former NBA player who now works for ESPN, tweeted, “Jesus Christ! This ain’t right man … bring BG home.” Isaiah Thomas, a former NBA star, echoed that. “No way they did that to BG!!!! No way!!!! God be with her please,” he tweeted.

While the most likely resolution of her case continues to rest with diplomatic bargaining between the United States and Russia, Griner’s lawyers begin the appeal process.

“#FreeBrittneyGriner we will not stop advocating for your release,” Dawn Staley, the Hall of Fame women’s coach at South Carolina, tweeted. “Hold on to God’s unchanging hand. We love you, BG!”

Lexie Brown, who plays for the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks, tweeted that “anyone that goes back to Russia to play is insane,” adding, “this is breaking my heart seeing her right now.”

Erica Wheeler, a former WNBA player, tweeted, “My heart goes out to BG’s family and her wife! Today hit a little different, man, like that’s our sister! I can’t even imagine how her family feels! I pray God is protecting her mental but more importantly keep fighting BG.…gotta bring you home!”

The NBA and WNBA commissioners echoed that in a joint statement. “Today’s verdict and sentencing is unjustified and unfortunate but not unexpected and Brittney Griner remains wrongly detained,” Adam Silver and Cathy Engelbert said. “The WNBA and NBA’s commitment to her safe return has not wavered and it is our hope that we are near the end of this process of finally bringing BG home to the United States.”

Terri Carmichael Jackson, head of the WNBA Players Association, called the decision Thursday “unjust. It is a terrible blow. Whatever conversations Secretary Blinken and his Russian counterpart need to have, we trust that they are having them with all deliberate speed. Because it’s time. It’s just time.”

Elizabeth Rood, the U.S. Embassy’s deputy chief of mission in Moscow, called Griner’s conviction and sentencing “a miscarriage of justice.” She spoke briefly, saying, “Secretary of State [Antony] Blinken, President Biden’s national security team and the entire American government remain committed to bringing Ms. Griner home safely to her family and friends.”

Biden called for her immediate release, saying: “Today, American citizen Brittney Griner received a prison sentence that is one more reminder of what the world already knew: Russia is wrongfully detaining Brittney,” Biden said. “It’s unacceptable, and I call on Russia to release her immediately so she can be with her wife, loved ones, friends, and teammates.”

Lindsay Kagawa Colas, Griner’s agent, called for a deal to be “done swiftly” to free her and noted that Paul Whelan is an American who is serving a 16-year prison term in Russia. He and Griner have been mentioned as part of a prisoner exchange.

“Today’s sentencing of Brittney Griner was severe by Russian legal standards and goes to prove what we have known all along, that Brittney is being used as a political pawn,” Colas said. “We appreciate and continue to support the efforts of @POTUS and @SecBlinken to get a deal done swiftly to bring Brittney, Paul and all Americans home.

“Bringing Brittney and Paul home is the sole objective, and as such, we should use all available tools. We must remain focused and unified. This is a time for compassion and a shared understanding that getting a deal done to bring Americans home will be hard, but it is urgent and it is the right thing to do.”

“BG is an American. BG is an Olympian. BG is an ALL-STAR. BG is a daughter, a wife, a friend,” Cari Champion, the former ESPN host, tweeted. “BG is an American. BG IS IN A CAGE. BG is ours. Bring her home.” Griner, who stands 6 foot 9, was confined to a cage for a much smaller person during her day in court.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, president and founder of the National Action Network, called Griner a “political pawn” and continued to ask for permission to take a delegation of clergy to visit Griner to assess her health.

“The sentencing of Brittney Griner to nine years in prison is a moral outrage and a legal atrocity in any court in the world. In most places, including the United States, what she pled guilty to and was charged with, would not even have merited a misdemeanor. It is shameful and a dark day when global athletics is subjected to politics and not due process,” Sharpton said. “Let’s not forget Brittney Griner not only entertained and won the hearts of many Americans, but for seven years entertained and won the hearts of many Russians as she played basketball there. Which is why her basketball coach and fellow players came and testified for her.

“She and Paul Whelan are clearly pawns in some global political chess game that has nothing to do with them. They should be immediately released.”

Initially, negotiations for her release were quietly conducted, but the passage of time has led to more public calls for her release. Griner’s wife, Cherelle, has been increasingly outspoken in calling for Biden to take action, with the State Department reclassifying Griner as “wrongfully detained” last spring.

Her No. 42 was added to basketball floors when the WNBA season began and calls to “free BG” intensified.

A two-time Olympic gold medalist and perennial all-star with the WNBA’s Mercury, Griner plays for UMMC Ekaterinburg during the WNBA offseason, and called Yekaterinburg her “second home” on Thursday. Moved by her relationship with her teammates and the growing popularity of the sport among young girls, she explained as she wept, “That’s why I kept coming back.”

Now, the focus turns to ongoing negotiations to try to get Griner released, something complicated by a frosty relationship between the United States and Russia. Last week, Blinken spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and urged him to accept a deal involving Griner and Whelan.

Whelan, who was arrested in 2018 and convicted of spying in 2020, says he was framed. The United States has not indicated whether it would offer Russian Viktor Bout, an arms trafficker who was arrested in a U.S. sting operation in Thailand in 2008, in exchange for their release.