Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons
On the morning of Thursday, Dec 8, Cherelle Griner got the news she had waited 293 days to hear: her wife was on her way home. Brittney Griner was wrongfully detained in Russia after attempting to enter the country with multiple vape cartridges in her possession. To learn more about Griner’s trial, sentencing, and the work to bring her home please read the article titled “Brittney Griner Spends First Week in Penal Colony, Heartbreak Felt Across Basketball Community” published in our last edition. In this article, we will attempt to discuss the conditions of Griner’s release and some of the controversies of leaving former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan in Russia.
She’s home. She’s home and it’s hard to believe that months of apparent hopelessness switched on a dime with an early morning meeting in the Oval Office. Cherelle Griner was called to the White House without being told why. The U.S. Government feared if anything was leaked about a potential trade it may be called off. Cherelle walked into the Oval Office and President Biden said, “She’s safe, she’s on a plane, she’s on her way home.” After speaking with her wife on the phone, Cherelle joined President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at a press conference, and spoke, saying, “I will remain committed to the work of getting every American home, including Paul (…but) today is a happy day for me and my family so I’m gonna smile right now.”
Who is Paul Whelan? If you’ve followed this case at all you know he is a former U.S. Marine who was arrested as an alleged spy back in 2019. The U.S. classified him as wrongly detained and have been working to get him released ever since. However, since Russia has charged Whelan with espionage, his case is being treated differently. “Sadly, for totally illegitimate reasons Russia is treating Paul’s case differently than Brittney’s,” President Biden said in his press conference. “While we have not yet succeeded in securing Paul’s release, we are not giving up. We will never give up.” Whelan’s brother, David, echoed this sentiment in his statement, saying, “It is so important to me that it is clear that we do not begrudge Ms. Griner her freedom. As I have often remarked, Brittney’s and Paul’s cases were never really intertwined. It has always been a strong possibility that one might be freed without the other.” There have been rumors going around that Russia is looking for a Russian spy in exchange for Whelan, but has not made any move to indicate who that may be.
Many absurd and negative statements have been made about this situation, including white male privilege doesn’t exist, Biden chose Griner over Whelan, and that Trump would have gotten Whelan home. We will not be addressing the entirety of these claims because there is too much unsubstantiated information. What we do know is Griner’s celebrity status brought eyes and voices to the issues of Americans held as geopolitical pawns. Biden has also voiced his commitment to continuing to work with Russia to bring Whelan home as soon as possible, but it does require Russia to be willing to trade for Whelan, which they haven’t indicated yet. For now, we can celebrate the homecoming of an American and continue to fight for the return of all wrongfully detained Americans. It is possible to be happy for the Griner family and devastated for the Whelan family at the same time.
