Savor the miracle of Brittney Griner's release. The politics can come later

Save the politics for later. Brittney Griner is coming home, and this is a time to rejoice.

A week ago, it seemed she was caught in a trap of history and autocratic rule and war. Now she is free. Thank God for that.

One person, one monster of a man, held her fate in his hands. Vladimir Putin is the justice system in Russia, and Griner would be released only when he was motivated to let her go.

We may not know for years why the Russian tyrant finally relented – was it really because the American asking price was too high? That it had to be a 1-for-1 prisoner swap, not 2-for-1 as the Americans were asking?

It’s likely there is much more to this story. And we may not know its full dimensions for years.

The Phoenix athlete was facing a terrible fate

Given the odds and the terrible fate Griner was facing, this is an almost miraculous outcome. She is spared the Russian gulag that is still in place even three decades after the Soviet empire has crashed.

She was, according to former Russian prisoner Nadya Tolokonnikova of the punk band and protest group Pussy Riot, in the most dangerous women’s prison in Russia, IK-2 in the Mordovia region about 300 miles east of Moscow. The saying in Russian prisons is “If you haven’t done time in Mordovia, you haven’t done time at all.”

It is a prison known for its brutality and torture, slave labor, filth and rotting food.

'That's our sister':WNBA players vow to keep Brittney Griner in spotlight

No human being deserves that kind of treatment, and Griner, who represented no threat to the Russian people or their country, was a mere pawn of the Kremlin. She was leverage for a government that is no more beneath taking hostages than it is invading its neighbors and executing their civilians.

It is the badness of that government, the sheer evil of what it is capable of doing under Vladimir Putin’s rule and its indifference to human suffering that tells you how fortunate we are that Brittney Griner is homeward bound.

Griner never sought the limelight or celebrity

Griner is world-class athlete who has won Olympic gold, an NCAA championship and a WNBA title with the Phoenix Mercury. But she is also an unassuming person who grew up in tough circumstances. Her father threw her out of the house because she is gay, only to later reconcile with her.

She is not a person who enjoys celebrity or seeks the limelight, her agent told The New Yorker magazine.

“Brittney Griner does not want to be famous,” said Lindsay Colas. “She wants to ride her skateboard down the street at dusk with a popsicle.”

My guess is that she will now become the strongest advocate for Americans still held in Russian prisons. Why? Because she didn't forget them in her communications to home.

Some Americans are not willing to forgive her protests against the flag and national anthem, and believe she deserved her fate for breaking Russian law.

This lacks understanding for how selective Russian law is. Vladimir Putin could have taken her prisoner any time during the near-decade she played pro basketball during the off-season in Russia.

His soldiers summarily execute Ukranian men and women. His goons murder Russian journalists and dissidents. He doesn’t need pretext to take an American hostage.

Take a moment and savor the good news

The Russians made Griner their prisoner for possessing small amounts of marijuana only a week before they invaded Ukraine. There were larger machinations at work.

We can discuss the politics and the costs for winning her release later. As for now, let’s just savor the moment.

Brittney Griner is an American. She is a Phoenician. She is our sister. She is free.

And God is good.

Phil Boas is an editorial columnist for The Arizona Republic. Email him at phil.boas@arizonarepublic.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Brittney Griner's release is a miracle. Save the politics for later