Brittney Griner being transferred to Russian penal colony

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Brittney Griner, the WNBA star who has been detained in Russia since February, is being moved to a Russian penal colony — a sort of jail facility identified for its brutal dwelling situations — her authorized group mentioned Wednesday.

The 32-year-old was arrested on the Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow on Feb. 17 and accused of coming into Russia with vape cartridges containing hashish oil, which is illegitimate in Russia. She pleaded responsible to carrying the cartridges, saying it was an “honest mistake.” She was sentenced to 9 and a half years in jail in August, and a decide rejected her appeal late final month.

“We do not have any information on her exact current location or her final destination,” her attorneys Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov mentioned in an announcement.

“In accordance with the standard Russian procedure the attorneys, as well as the U.S. Embassy, should be notified upon her arrival at her destination,” a course of they mentioned usually takes up to two weeks.

Although no additional information concerning the Griner’s new facility has been publicly launched, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote in a tweet Wednesday, “We strongly protest the movement of Brittney Griner to a remote penal colony and the Russian government’s use of wrongful detentions.”

Russia has one of many highest charges of incarceration in Europe, with nearly 520,000 inmates held in prisons all through the nation, in accordance to the Associated Press. Most of its amenities are referred to as penal colonies as a result of inmates are required to perform labor throughout their sentences.

The camps share many similarities with the gulags or forced-labor camps used in the course of the Soviet Union, and media investigations have highlighted alleged abuses in opposition to prisoners in penal colonies.

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, who was jailed after recovering from a poisoning assault, described the infamous Penal Colony No. 2, the place he was initially despatched, as “our friendly concentration camp.” He accused guards of denying him correct medical care or the prospect to sleep and described dehumanizing surveillance.

The White House condemned the choice to transfer Griner right into a penal colony, with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saying that “every minute that Brittney Griner must endure wrongful detention in Russia is a minute too long.”

“As the Administration continues to work tirelessly to secure her release, the President has directed the Administration to prevail on her Russian captors to improve her treatment and the conditions she may be forced to endure in a penal colony,” she mentioned in an announcement.

Jean-Pierre added that the U.S. authorities had made “a significant offer to resolve the current unacceptable and wrongful detentions of American citizens,” as Washington seeks to negotiate a diplomatic resolution to free Griner and Paul Whelan, an American former security consultant serving a 16-year sentence in Russia.

But Russia blamed Washington on Tuesday for the dearth of progress, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova saying, “We have not seen any desire from the United States to resolve the specific problems of people.”

In a Wednesday assertion, Griner’s agent, Lindsay Colas, spoke of considerations over the basketball participant’s well being and well-being throughout “this very difficult phase of not knowing exactly where BG is or how she is doing.”

“We are thankful for everyone’s support, and hope that as we near nine months of detention, that BG and all wrongfully detained Americans will be shown mercy and returned home to their families for the holidays,” Colas added.

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