Following days of rumors over her location, American basketball player Brittney Griner has been sent to a prison colony in Yavas, in the western Russian province of Mordovia, according to her attorneys.
Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov, her attorneys, expressed gratitude to everyone who has shown their support. In a statement, they said, "First, on behalf of Brittney, we would want to thank everyone who has expressed care for her."
Brittney Griner Moved to Penal Colony
The US State Department said on Wednesday that it had spoken with Griner's legal counsel and was aware of rumors that she had been sent to a correctional colony some seven hours' drive southeast of Moscow.
However, "we do not have any information on her exact current location or her final destination," according to Griner's representatives, who previously confirmed she had been transferred from a detention facility in Iksha on November 4 and that she was going to a penal colony.
According to customary Russian protocol, the lawyers and the US Embassy should be informed as soon as she arrives at her destination. Official mail is used for notification, and it can take up to two weeks to arrive, as per CNN. After spending nine months apart from her loved ones, the Olympic gold winner and former WNBA champion is attempting to maintain her composure, according to Lindsay Colas, her agent.
On November 4, Brittney Griner was transferred from a prison facility close to the Russian capital. Although her attorneys said she had been sent to a correctional colony at the time, the public had no idea of her precise whereabouts, as per Al Jazeera.
Russian prisons are notorious for their severe circumstances, where inmates are housed in barracks rather than private cells and made to labor every day. Brittney Griner is one of two US nationals who, according to Washington, are being held in solitary confinement in Russia. Veteran US Marine Paul Whelan received a 16-year jail term in 2020 for espionage-related offenses.
Days before Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Griner was arrested earlier this year. As the war has strained ties between Moscow and Washington, Brittney Griner's case has advanced through the Russian legal system.
In her luggage, according to Russian police, they discovered vape cartridges carrying cannabis oil when she entered the nation to play for a Russian club during the WNBA's off-season. In August, a Russian court maintained the nine-year jail term that had been previously deemed harsh by the basketball player's defense attorneys.
Situation in Russia's Penal Colony
An article published in 2017 by the Russian publication Moskovsky Komsomolets detailed the widespread use of torture, severe beatings, and slave labor practices in the IK-2. Prisoners frequently start their days at seven in the morning. According to the article, which cited past convicts, they are not permitted to use a bathroom until midnight or later. There are two more prison colonies in the town in addition to the IK-2, as per NY Times.
Griner was detained in February, just as Moscow was about to invade Ukraine, and her destiny was intertwined with high-stakes geopolitics and strained US-Russian ties.
Hash oil was discovered in her suitcase, and she admitted guilt to the drug accusation, although she argued that she had no desire to breach the law. The US government and Griner's supporters have criticized the sentence's severity as proof that it was politically motivated, despite her attorneys' claims to the contrary.
Even as American and Russian officials discussed the potential of a prisoner exchange, a Russian court upheld Griner's sentence late last month, paving the way for her relocation to a penal colony. So yet, not much has resulted from those discussions.
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