WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner is escorted to a courtroom for a hearing, in Khimki just outside Moscow, Russia, Friday, 7/1/2022.
(AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Brittney Griner writes letter to Biden from Russian prison (msn.com)
By DOUG FEINBERG, AP Basketball Writer
Brittney Griner has made an appeal to President Joe Biden in a letter passed to the
White House through her representatives saying she feared she might never return
home and asking that he not “forget about me and the other American Detainees.”
Griner’s agent Lindsay Kagawa Colas said the letter was delivered on Monday.
Most of the letter’s contents to President Biden remain private, though Griner’s
representatives also shared a few lines from the hand-written note.
″…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,” Griner wrote.
“On the 4th of July, our family normally honors the service of those who fought for our freedom, including my father who is a Vietnam War Veteran,” the Phoenix Mercury center added. “It hurts thinking about how I usually celebrate this day because freedom means something completely different to me this year.”
The two-time Olympic gold medalist is in the midst of a trial in Russia
that began last week after she was arrested on Feb. 17 on charges of possessing cannabis oil while returning to play for her Russian team. Fewer than 1% of defendants in Russian criminal cases are acquitted, and unlike in U.S. courts, acquittals can be overturned.
The White House National Security Council confirmed the White House has received Griner’s letter.
Why was Britteny Griner Detained at the Russian Airport?
“We believe the Russian Federation is wrongfully detaining Brittney Griner,” NSC spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said on Monday. “President Biden has been clear about the need to see all U.S. nationals who are held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad released, including Brittney Griner.
The U.S. government continues to work aggressively – using every available means –
to bring her home.” Griner pleaded with Biden in the letter to use his powers to ensure
her return.
“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,” Griner said “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.”
Griner has been able to have sporadic communications with family, friends and WNBA players through an email account her agent set up. The emails are printed out and delivered in bunches to Griner by her lawyer after they are vetted by Russian officials. Once the lawyers get back to their office, they’ll scan any responses from Griner
and pass them back to the U.S. to send along.
WNBA: Brittney Griner pleads guilty to drug charge in Russia (yahoo.com)
She was supposed to have a phone call with her wife on their anniversary, but it failed because of an “unfortunate mistake,” Biden administration officials. Griner’s supporters have encouraged a prisoner swap like the one in April that brought home Marine veteran Trevor Reed in exchange for a Russian pilot convicted of drug trafficking conspiracy.
The State Department in May designated her as wrongfully detained, moving her case under the supervision of its special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, effectively the government’s chief hostage negotiator. Griner isn’t the only American being wrongfully detained in Russia.
Paul Whelan, a former Marine and security director is serving a 16-year sentence on
an espionage conviction. On December 28, 2018, Whelan was arrested in Moscow by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), which later confirmed his arrest.[15][16][17] Whelan’s twin brother David said Whelan arrived in Moscow on December 22 to
attend the wedding of a former fellow Marine at the Hotel Metropol Moscow and to assist the groom’s family members on their first visit to Russia, a country he had visited many times. He said his brother planned to return to Michigan on January 6, 2019, via Saint Petersburg.[18]
Per MBK News, an outlet run by Putin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Whelan had $80,000 in cash “temporarily confiscated” during a customs inspection at Domodedovo Airport.[19] According to the New York Times, Whelan had acted as a local guide for the wedding guests, but had decided to spend the day of the wedding to meet a friend, per the account of other attendees.[20] David said his brother entered Russia using his U.S. passport.[4]
He said his brother had not been in contact with his family.
He was formally charged on January 3, 2019.[21]
According to the Russian News Agency Rosbalt, Whelan was apprehended in his hotel room at the Metropol while concluding a long outing with a Russian citizen, who handed him a USB drive containing “a list of all the employees at a classified security agency”.
The independent, regime-critical, Latvian-based publication Meduza reported that the wedding attendees all banded close together for the duration of the holiday and
were taken aback by Whelan’s decision to spend the day alone.[22]
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) cited family members of Whelan, who said Whelan previously bragged about knowing an agent of the FSB and was privy to an unusual cache of personal details about his friend, including which intelligence training school he attended (biographical information typically reserved for a very close circle).[23]
As Whelan said about the arrest, his long-time friend had appeared suddenly in the hotel, followed by authorities, who later arrested him.[24]
According to the lawyers, they could not provide the name of the Russian long-time friend (who planted a memory card in Whelan’s hotel room) due to Russian secrecy rules, but Whelan’s family identified the person as Ilya Yatsenko, whom the Russian newspaper Kommersant called as a major in the FSB’s Department “K” which monitors Russian economic crimes.[25]
Whelan was being held in Moscow’s Lefortovo Prison.[12][c] As of March 2019, he shared a cell with another prisoner who spoke no English.[27]
Former CIA officers have stated that the CIA would not recruit an officer with Whelan’s military record, nor leave an officer exposed without a diplomatic passport.[12] They further claim that Whelan’s arrest is connected to tensions between Russia and the United States, including the detention of confessed unregistered foreign agent Maria Butina.[28][29] On December 20, 2018, when discussing Butina’s arrest, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia “will not arrest innocent people simply to exchange them”.[1]
U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman Jr. met with Whelan on January 2,, 2019 while Whelan was in Russian custody.[30] He told Whelan’s family that Paul was “in good health and good spirits”, but that the family needed to supply all his incidental needs aside from basic foodstuffs.[4][d] U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said: “We’ve made clear to the Russians our expectation that we will learn more about the charges, come to understand what it is he’s been accused of and if the detention is not appropriate, we will demand his immediate return.”[31] On January 4, 2019 British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: “We don’t agree with individuals being used in diplomatic chess games…
We are all extremely worried about him and his family.”[21] .[32]
On January 3, 2019, Whelan’s attorney, Vladimir Zherebenko,[e] said he was seeking his release on bail. He said a trial would not begin for at least six months, and that he would welcome an exchange of Whelan for Butina.[34] He said: “I presume that he is innocent because, for now, I haven’t seen any evidence against him that would prove otherwise.”[12] More than a fortnight later, Zherebenkov said Whelan had been unaware of the contents of the USB stick and believed it contained material solely of personal value such as “photographs, videos, anything at all, about his previous holiday in Russia.”[35]
On January 5, 2019, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that on the day after Whelan’s arrest the United States had detained a Russian citizen, Dmitry Makarenko, in the Northern Marianas and transported him to Florida to face charges of unauthorized export of defense equipment.[36][f]
Conviction and sentencing
On June 15, 2020, Whelan was convicted and sentenced to 16 years in a Russian prison for espionage by a court in Moscow.[37][38] His lawyers said they believed Russia would now seek a prisoner swap. Whelan said in court that all the case was a sham to use him to influence the United States: “We have proven my innocence… we have proven fabrication. This is slimy, greasy corrupt Russian politics, nothing more, nothing less.”[25][39]
Family members said Whelan had been told he had been arrested to be exchanged for a Russian prisoner in the United States, mentioning Konstantin Yaroshenko (who was released in return for American Trevor Reed), Viktor Bout, or Roman Seleznev.[40]
Whelan initially held at the Correctional Colony No. 18 under supervision of the Russian Federation’s Federal Penitentiary Service.[41] He is currently held in a high-security prison, IK-17, eight hours drive southeast of Moscow.[42]
Search Results for Cannabis Oil | Cancer Quick Facts (solitarius.org)
Watch the show “Locked up abroad” a few episodes and believe me you will be a lot more careful in your travels to other countries! Some people got life sentences for crimes that are misdemeanors here.
It’s a simple thing here.
She broke the law believing her minor celebrity status would make her exempt from laws in other countries, and she found out otherwise. Now she may well and should have to pay the price like anyone else. What makes her so special?
She isn’t “wrongfully imprisoned” as the American media likes to keep harping on. Brittney told the court, IT’S NOT UNLAWFUL DETENTION “I’d like to plead guilty, your honor. But there was no intent. I didn’t want to break the law,” Griner said in court.
She deserves to be right where she is as she violated Russia’s laws. Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time. Do not take her plea at face value. May be true or may simply be a tactic to obtain her release. Note that even in the US, when charged with a federal offense sentencing guidelines are different depending on whether you plead guilty. It is not uncommon for an innocent person to plead guilty to obtain probation rather than pleading not guilty and face possible jail time.
First, everyone gives their two cents as far as the “law” goes. This is Russian law. It has a whole different rule book. The rights of defendants are very different as compared to American laws. So are the laws themselves. The other part of her problem is Biden writing letters demanding her release. Right now, most people (I would dare say that includes even us here in the U.S.) disregard anything Biden wishes to do. Griner would have been better off if Biden had not sent a letter that is going to be used as comic relief by Putin and the Russian courts. My heart goes out to Griner, but with Biden in office as our president and Putin seeing the U.S. as enemy No. 1, she has very low odds.
Griner hates her own country, but now she’s begging for help from the country she hates: “I honestly feel we should not play the national anthem during our season,” Griner said, per The Arizona Republic. “I think we should take that much of a stand.” “I’m going to protest regardless,” she said. “I’m not going to be out there for the national anthem.
If the league continues to want to play it, that’s fine. It will be all season long; I’ll not be out there. I feel like more are going to probably do the same thing. I can only speak for myself.” She knew that it was against the law, but she did it anyway! She forgot she packed it!
Really and WHY is it more important to get her out then others who have been there much longer than she. I say she did the crime she needs to do the time! Such a political game is being played, literally makes me even more upset about what this country is all about.
Rumor has it that she will be released on August 23rd, she will have cleared the courts and may continue to earn money and play ball there. The Biden administration will attempt to take credit. This is not true it is how the system works. I also heard another rumor that if her apology is insincere and she does not take full responsibility and show remorse it may be 6 months beyond the 23rd. The constitution is very specific and may not be used politically. She must separate from the Rood embassy and they need to stop using the words falsely detained.
Britney is being truthful, so the government and the media need to follow. Simple possession for personal use and the crossing the border charge dropped, 6 months including time served. Thank You for coming clean Brittney and shame on you Embassy for having an agenda beyond her rights as an individual.
Note: she may have to attend a 30-day drug addiction program as a condition of release and may start immediately after the 14th hearing date. We take our freedom for granted. We comfortably come and go with ease as we please. I can believe she accidentally packed it. This isn’t her first time traveling abroad. So many people pack guns by accident and go through airport checkpoints. It was probably there from a previous trip and she didn’t change bags or take them out. It happens. She has no previous criminal record. So, I can see this happening. At least she was honest about admitting it was there.
That says a lot because she knows what she’s up against.
The United States government deemed Griner “wrongfully detained” by the Russian government”. This is the issue folks. we act like the policeman of the world bases in over 100 countries. A person pleads guilty in another country we still say illegally detained. How arrogant can we be? And this is why she is being treated the way she is treated.
Trust me she has influence even in Russia. The owner of the team in Russia I am sure has a voice and even that does no good if the U.S. state dept calls it illegal. Meanwhile, there are tons of Americans stuck in Afghanistan who didn’t break any laws but Joey can’t make a special phone call for them! This is such a non-issue, you break another countries law, you plead guilty, and do the time then come home.
An average American citizen would not get this special treatment and calls from the “president” and petitions and rallies from the media, we would just get a few years in a Russian prison and if we survived, we would come home. Your community Guidelines are designed to avoid comments that are MEANT to offend actions that are specifically personalized for the bad behavior of people. Free speech requires the allowance for people to voice opinions without censorship by a group of hired and paid for monitors.
Not free speech, just plain censorship!
Washington should keep their nose out of this!
She chose to go there. She chose to take drugs with her.
You may not respect the laws in this country, but it is another country, and they actually enforce their laws. This is on her and only her. So, she breaks another country’s laws, and they are unlawfully detaining her? She took illegal substances to another country and got caught. Did she think that because she plays basketball she is above the law? What is next, oh wait the race card has already been played. Famous saying…DON’T DO THE CRIME IF YOU CAN’T DO THE TIME.