But given Griner’s "political value" to Russia, it may also make a huge demand for her release. If ever Russia wants to reestablish itself as a country hospitable to foreign athletes like Griner, the country would have significant incentive to release her. She said that even though there’s no connection between the two besides the fact they’re both in Russia, "I obviously want him back, too." Griner’s wife, Cherelle, urged the Biden administration in an interview with ABC’s "Good Morning America" to do anything necessary to get Griner home, but also expressed empathy for Whelan.
officials and Griner’s supporters initially said little publicly about her case, but that changed in May when the State Department designated her as wrongfully detained and transitioned her case to the SPEHA office.
That has prompted questions about the role race and sexual identity are playing in a country where authorities have been hostile to the LGBTQ community, and about whether her case would get more attention if it involved a white male athlete. The seven-time WNBA All-Star is not only one of the most dominant figures in her sport but also a prominent gay, Black woman. There’s no question that the February arrest of Griner - Russian authorities detained her at an airport after they said a search of her bag revealed vape cartridges containing oil derived from cannabis - has heightened public awareness around the dozens of Americans who, like Reed and Griner, are classified as wrongfully detained by foreign governments. A spokesman for the State Department office that advocates for wrongfully detained Americans, the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, or SPEHA, declined to say how the cases might affect each other but said in a statement that the office remains committed to securing the release of both. officials have not said whether swaps are being discussed that could get Griner, Whelan or both home or whether they’d accept a deal that yields the release of one without the other. "And if Paul Whelan gets out first, you’re going to have questions about why isn’t Brittney out when Brittney hasn’t even been convicted yet," she said. If Griner, who plays for the Phoenix Mercury, were to leapfrog Whelan in coming home, the administration will face scrutiny from Whelan’s supporters. Julian-Varnon, a doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania who specializes in Russia and is advising the WNBA players’ association on Griner’s case. It all adds up to a "sticky wicket," said Kimberly St. "We want everyone out of there, out of Russia and away from that situation." "It’s not like we don’t want her home," she said. "And to think we might have to go through that again if Brittney is brought home first is just terrible."īut "what’s really bad" about feeling that way, she hastened to add, is that she and her family absolutely want Griner released, too. "It’s still very raw," Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth Whelan, said of her brother being excluded from the Reed deal. The potential interplay between the cases is not lost on the families and supporters of Whelan and Griner. That has escalated pressure on the Biden administration to avoid another one-for-one swap that does not include Whelan - even as it presses for the release of Griner, an Olympic gold medalist whose case has drawn global attention. He was left out of a prisoner exchange in April that brought home yet another detainee, Marine veteran Trevor Reed. Paul Whelan has been held in Russia since his December 2018 arrest on espionage charges he and the U.S. But the WNBA star’s case is tangled up with that of a lesser-known American also imprisoned in Russia. WASHINGTON - Brittney Griner is easily the most prominent American locked up by a foreign country. Among the crowd was congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, the Mayor of Houston, the NAACP Houston and many of her supporters. WNBA star Brittney Griner's hometown of Houston rallies for her return from Russian detainmentĪ big crowd showed up at June 6's vigil for Britney Griner at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.