Brittney Griner, the WNBA star who has been detained in Russia on drug charges since February, sent a handwritten letter to President Biden on Monday asking him not to forget about her.
“While I am sitting here in a Russian prison, alone with my thoughts and without the protection of my wife, my family, friends, the Olympic shirt or any success, I am terrified of being able to be here forever,” he said. Griner in an excerpt from the letter shared by his representatives.
She continued, “I realize you’re dealing with a lot of things, but please don’t forget about me and the other American detainees. Please do your best to take us home.”
A White House spokeswoman did not say whether the president had received the letter, but made a statement from Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council.
“President Biden has made clear the need to see the release of all American citizens who are held hostage or unjustly detained abroad, including Brittney Griner. The U.S. government continues to work aggressively, using all means available, to take her home, ”Watson said.
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He added that “the president’s team is in regular contact with Brittney’s family.”
Griner, 31, was arrested on February 17 after being accused of having hashish oil in her luggage at an airport near Moscow. She was in Russia to play for UMCC Yekaterinburg, a professional women’s basketball team for which she had competed for several seasons outside the WNBA. She has played in the WNBA Phoenix Mercury since 2013, when the team selected her with the No. 1 overall team, and has won two Olympic gold medals with the U.S. women’s basketball team.
Griner faces up to 10 years in a penal colony if convicted of drug charges in Russia. Her trial began Friday and legal experts said she was likely to be found guilty. But not necessarily on the merits of the case.
“There is a bias mainly because the Russian judicial system says they really should not go to trial unless the accused is convicted,” William Pomeranz, acting director of the Kennan Institute and an expert in Russian law, told The New York Times. recently. “There is no real idea or expectation that the accused can be innocent. There is no presumption of innocence, really.”
Griner has not responded to the charges. The U.S. State Department determined in May that she had been “arrested by mistake,” though she has not said how or why that conclusion was reached. The determination meant that government officials dealing with hostages would work to free her. More than 40 Americans were said to have been unjustly detained around the world earlier this year.
In his letter to Biden, Griner referred to the Fourth of July. “It hurts me to think about how I usually celebrate this day because freedom means something completely different to me this year,” he said, adding that he voted for the first time in the 2020 presidential election and chose Biden.
Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner, has publicly urged Biden to help free his wife. Last month, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, Griner’s agent, coordinated a letter to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris from dozens of women’s and civil rights organizations. The letter said Griner was suffering “inhuman treatment.”
“We now urge you to make a deal to get Brittney back home in the United States immediately and safely,” the letter said.
In April, the United States and Russia held a prisoner exchange that released Trevor R. Reed, a former U.S. Marine who had been detained on charges of assault for more than two years. In return, the United States released Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot who in 2011 was sentenced to 20 years in prison for cocaine trafficking.
U.S. officials have not said whether they would consider a prisoner exchange to release Griner.
Long-standing tensions between the United States and Russia and the ongoing war in Ukraine have complicated Griner’s situation, but government officials have said securing his release is a priority.
Michael D. Shear contributed to the report.