A handwritten letter from imprisoned basketball star Brittney Griner was delivered to the White House on Monday, according to her family members. Griner, who has been detained in Russia since February, asked the president to remember her fight for freedom on Independence Day.
“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. It hurts thinking about how I usually celebrate this day because freedom means something completely different to me this year.”
She also asked Biden to bring home all American detainees, and told the president she voted for him in the 2020 election.
“I realize you are dealing with so much, but please don’t forget about me and the other American detainees. Please do all you can to bring us home,” wrote Griner.
Griner, the Phoenix Mercury center who played in Russia during her offseason, was arrested in a Moscow airport four months ago on charges of having cannabis oil in her luggage. She was charged with large-scale transportation of drugs and faces up to ten years in prison.
The U.S. and Griner have said she is being wrongfully detained.
Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner, said on Tuesday that the imprisoned basketball star decided to write a letter to Biden “because of the failed attempts that we have had as a family,” and that Biden has not yet responded.
“And it kills me every time that, you know, when I have to write her [Brittney] and she’s asking, you know, ‘Have you met with him yet?’ And, you know, I have to say ‘no,’ and she’s like, ‘You know what’ — I’m sure she was like, ‘I’m going to write him and ask now because, you know, my family has tried and to no avail, so I’m going to do it myself,’” she added in an interview on CBS Mornings.
Griner’s detainment comes during a time of heightened tensions between the U.S. and Russia, as the former continues to oppose and work to repel the latter’s invasion of Ukraine. Cherelle Griner has previously said she believes her wife is being used as a “political pawn.”