Former WNBA star Brittney Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner, celebrated her partner’s upcoming release from a Russian penal colony, but vowed to continue fighting for other Americans locked up abroad — including Paul Whelan — even after Griner is home.
Russia has reportedly agreed to a prisoner swap with the US. Griner — who was imprisoned on smuggling charges after she brought a THC vape cartridge into the country — will be exchanged for the “Merchant of Death” Viktor Bout, an international arms dealer who conspired to killed Americans.
Cherelle Griner addressed reporters in Washington DC alongside Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, celebrating her wife’s release and saying the couple will continue to fight for other Americans who have been imprisoned outside of the country.
“BG’s [Brittney Griner] not here to say this but I will gladly speak on her behalf and say that BG and I will remain committed to the work of getting every American home, including Paul [Whelan], whose family is in our hearts today as we celebrate BG being home,” she told the press.
Whelan was arrested in Moscow in 2018 and was convicted on espionage charges in 2020. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
“We do understand that there is still people out here who are enduring what I endured the last nine months of missing, tremendously, their loved one,” Cherelle Griner said.
Griner’s ordeal began in February when the former WNBA star was arrested for possessing a THC vape while passing through an airport in Moscow.
She was taken into custody approximately a week before Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full invasion of Ukraine. Some commenters speculated shortly after her arrest that Russia intended to use her as a political pawn to gain leverage over the US.
Griner was convicted in a Russian court and ultimately sentenced to nine years in prison. Though much of her stay was in a Moscow detention center — where Griner had to share a room with two other women and required a special bed to accommodate her body’s length — after her conviction she was moved to a penal colony to serve out the rest of her time.
Though Griner has escaped forced labour in a Russian penal colony, the same cannot be said for Whelan.
According to ABC News, Whelan has spent much of his more than three years in Russia locked up inside Correctional Colony-17, a dilapidated former WWII Gulag.
In 2020 he told the outlet the site is "pretty grim," saying "there’s probably like 50 to 60 of us in the building. So we kind of live on top of each other."
He said at the time that, despite the conditions, he has overall been treated well by his captors and fellow prisoners.
In the last year, both Griner and another American locked up in Russia, Trevor Reed, have been released. Whalen and his family have been left wondering when their reunion will come.
“Why was I left behind? While I am pleased Trevor is home with his family, I have been held on a fictitious charge of espionage for 40 months,” Whelan said in a statement to his parents that was shared with CNN. “The world knows this charge was fabricated. Why hasn’t more been done to secure my release?”
Mr Biden said during the presser Thursday morning that he would not forget Whalen and that the US would continue to work to secure his release.
"We never forgot about Brittney [Griner], we haven’t forgotten about Paul Whelan, who has been unjustly detained in Russia for years," Mr Biden said. "This was not a choice of which American to bring home … sadly, for totally illegitimate reasons, Russia is treating Paul’s case differently than Brittney’s, and while we have not yet succeeded in securing Paul’s release, we are not giving up. We will never give up."
