ABOVE: Brittney Griner (Lorie Shaull, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Detained WNBA star Brittney Griner over the weekend appealed directly to President Joe Biden to help secure her release.
The Washington Post reported the White House received Griner’s letter on July 4.
“As I sit here in a Russian prison, alone with my thoughts and without the protection of my wife, family, friends, Olympic jersey or any accomplishments, I’m terrified I might be here forever,” reads the letter, according to the Post. “I realize you are dealing with so much, but please don’t forget about me and the other American detainees … Please do all you can to bring us home. I voted for the first time in 2020 and I voted for you. I believe in you. I still have so much good to do with my freedom that you can help restore. I miss my wife! I miss my family! I miss my teammates! It kills me to know they are suffering so much right now. I am grateful for whatever you can do at this moment to get me home.”
Officials at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport in February detained Griner — a Phoenix Mercury center and two-time Olympic gold medalist who is a lesbian and married to her wife, Cherelle Griner, — after customs inspectors allegedly found hashish oil in her luggage. The State Department has determined that Russia “wrongfully detained” her.
U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Elizabeth Rood and other American diplomats attended the first day of Brittney Griner’s trial that began on July 1 in Moscow. Brittney Griner faces up to 10 years in prison if she is convicted.
The Council for Global Equality and the Human Rights Campaign are among the dozens of advocacy groups who signed a letter to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris that urged them to do more to secure Brittney Griner’s release. The U.S. House of Representatives on June 24 approved a resolution that called upon Russia to immediately release her.
Cherelle Griner last week during an interview with CNN said the White House needs to do more to secure her wife’s release.
Vanessa Nygaard, the Phoenix Mercury’s head coach, on Monday said she hopes Brittney Griner’s letter “some people are paying attention to it and of course the Biden administration and our State Department put it at the front of their messaging.” Nygaard during the press conference also said Brittney Griner’s detention has not received as much attention because of who she is.
“If it’s Lebron (James) he’d be home,” said Nygaard. “It’s a statement about the value of women. It’s a statement about the value of a Black person. It’s a statement about the value of a gay person … it’s all of those things, and we know it.”
