{"id":625004,"date":"2023-04-02T04:27:05","date_gmt":"2023-04-02T09:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/02\/brittney-griner-concerned-for-american-journalist-held-in-russia-and-urges-biden-to-bring-him-home\/"},"modified":"2023-04-02T04:27:05","modified_gmt":"2023-04-02T09:27:05","slug":"brittney-griner-concerned-for-american-journalist-held-in-russia-and-urges-biden-to-bring-him-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/02\/brittney-griner-concerned-for-american-journalist-held-in-russia-and-urges-biden-to-bring-him-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Brittney Griner concerned for American journalist held in Russia and urges Biden to bring him home"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

WNBA star Brittney Griner<\/a> has shared her concern and support for Evan Gershkovich<\/a>, urging the Biden administration to \u201cuse every tool possible\u201d to secure the release of the American journalist<\/a>, who is being held in Russia on espionage charges<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery American who is taken is ours to fight for and every American returned is a win for us all,” said Griner, who was released in a high-profile prisoner swap after she was jailed in Russia for most of last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur hearts are filled with great concern\u201d for Gershkovich and his family,” Griner and her wife, Cherelle, said in a statement posted to Instagram<\/a> late Saturday.<\/p>\n

Russian security officials arrested the Wall Street Journal reporter, 31, last week, and plan to detain him for at least two months on spying charges that Gershkovich and the Journal vehemently deny.\u00a0The newspaper and other media organizations have demanded his release.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His arrest came as tensions between Washington and Moscow deepen over the war in Ukraine and as the Kremlin cracks down on free speech at home.<\/a> Gershkovich is the first journalist from a U.S. news outlet to be arrested on espionage charges in Russia since the Cold War.\u00a0<\/p>\n

President Joe Biden has urged Moscow to release Gershkovich, telling reporters Friday that his message on the arrest was simply: \u201cLet him go.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Biden administration said Thursday it was working to secure U.S. consular access to Gershkovich. Speaking at a news conference in Lusaka, Zambia, Vice President Kamala Harris said that the U.S. was \u201cdeeply concerned\u201d about the arrest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not tolerate \u2014 and condemn, in fact \u2014 repression of journalists,\u201d Harris said during a weeklong visit to Africa.<\/p>\n

In their Instagram statement, the Griners celebrated the Biden administration\u2019s \u201crecent successful efforts\u201d to repatriate other detained Americans such as Jeff Woodke<\/a>, an aid worker who was held captive in Niger for six years, and Paul Rusesbagina<\/a>, an American legal resident and human rights worker who was imprisoned for more than two years in Rwanda.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Griners called on their supporters to \u201cencourage\u201d the administration to do everything possible to bring wrongfully detained Americans home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/picture><\/a><\/div>\n

Griner, a six-time WNBA All-Star who plays for the Phoenix Mercury<\/a>, spent most of last year in a Russian penal colony after she was arrested at Moscow\u2019s Sheremetyevo Airport in February and jailed on drug charges<\/a> after Russian authorities said they found vape cannisters and cannabis oil in her luggage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She was released in December in a prisoner swap for Viktor Bout, an illicit arms dealer nicknamed \u201cthe Merchant of Death,\u201d<\/a> who had served 11 years of a 25-year sentence in the U.S.<\/p>\n

But Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov ruled out any quick swap involving Gershkovich.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t even consider this issue now because people who were previously swapped had already served their sentences,\u201d Ryabkov said on Thursday, according to Tass news agency.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As Russia\u2019s war effort in Ukraine continues, crackdowns on reporters and protesters at home have intensified<\/a>. Days after the invasion, Moscow introduced a new law criminalizing any criticism of the Russian army and threatening prison for repeat offenders.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gershkovich, whose parents were originally from the former Soviet Union, covered Russia, Ukraine and countries in the former USSR for The Wall Street Journal. If convicted of spying, he could face up to 20 years in a Russian prison.<\/p>\n

In a statement Saturday, the Journal said it “demands the immediate release of our colleague,” describing him as a “distinguished” and “fearless” reporter. <\/p>\n

“Evan’s case is a vicious affront to a free press, and should spur outrage in all free people and governments throughout the world,” it said.<\/p>\n


<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Leila Sackur and Associated Press and Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WNBA star Brittney Griner has shared her concern and support for Evan Gershkovich, urging the Biden administration to \u201cuse every tool possible\u201d to secure the release of the American journalist, who is being held in Russia on espionage charges. \u201cEvery American who is taken is ours to fight for and every American returned is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":625005,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[105050,534,71255],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-625004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brittney","category-financial","category-griner"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}