Fans online are sending love and prayers to jailed basketball player Brittney Griner as today marks her 32nd birthday.
As we previously reported, the WNBA star was arrested at a Moscow airport on Feb. 17 and was later sentenced to nine years in prison on charges of smuggling drugs into the country. After the trial, her lawyer, Maria Blagovolina said the sentence was “absolutely unreasonable” and filed an appeal. Hearings for that will begin on Oct. 25.
In the meantime, fans have taken to Twitter to offer Griner and her family some encouraging words for the athlete who has been jailed for 243 days. Billie Jean King tweeted, “Today, Brittney Griner turns 32. She will spend her birthday in a Russian prison, where she has been unlawfully detained for 8 months. Let’s continue to advocate for her release and bring her home. #WeAreBG.” Another fan said, “Happy birthday, BG. We won’t stop calling for your return home. BringThemHome #BringBGHome #WeAreBG @TheWNBPA.” A third added, “Happy birthday to Brittney Griner. We’re praying for your safety while you’re away, and also a renewed sense of urgency to bring you home. 243 days is too long, and it’s time for her to return. 🙏🏾”
RELATED: Brittney Griner Fears Having To Spend Full Nine-Year Prison Sentence In Russia, Says Her Lawyer
More On Brittney Griner’s 9-Year Prison Sentence:
Griner’s wife Cherelle recently spoke with CBS Mornings after Griner was handed down the lengthy prison sentence. While speaking with Gayle King, she said that she feels her wife is “a hostage” in Russia.
“To know that our government and the foreign government is sitting down and negotiating for her release? She’s a hostage.”
How Is Brittney Griner Holding Up?
During the interview, Cherelle said that she had spoken to Brittney only twice by phone while she has been detained, describing the more recent call as “the most disturbing phone call I’d ever experienced.”
“You could hear that she was not OK,” Cherelle said of Brittney. “If you think about just a person suffering, and when they have suffered to a max, like you could hear that, like, she was at the max that day,” she added. Cherelle went on to say that she doesn’t know if Brittney “has anything left in her tank to continue to wake up every day and be in a place where she has no one.”
“She’s very afraid about being left and forgotten in Russia or just completely used to the point of her detriment, because she’s like, you know, saying things to me like, ‘my life just don’t even matter no more,'” she told King.