After shedding an attraction to her nine-year sentence in Russia, Brittney Griner is anticipated to be transferred to a penal colony.
WASHINGTON — U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner misplaced an attraction of her nine-year jail sentence for drug possession on Tuesday at a Russian court docket.
The eight-time all-star heart with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and a two-time Olympic gold medalist was convicted Aug. 4 after police mentioned they discovered vape canisters containing hashish oil in her baggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.
Griner, 32, was not on the Moscow Regional Court listening to Tuesday however appeared through video link from a penal colony outdoors the capital the place she is held.
She is anticipated to serve her nine-year time period at a Russian penal colony, although her legal professionals mentioned it could possibly be “a few months” earlier than she is transferred, in accordance with the New York Times.
What is a penal colony?
Russia has greater than 600 corrective colonies unfold all through the nation, in accordance with World Prison Brief, a database offering information on prisons around the world.
Penal colonies in Russia are compelled labor camps with dorm-style barracks, usually related to brutality and harsh situations, the New York Times reports. Russia’s historical past with labor camps dates again to the Stalin period, when the notorious gulags have been typical types of punishment.
A 2021 human rights report by the U.S. Department of State revealed the Russian amenities’ points vary from meals shortages to overcrowding and lack of hygiene. Abuses and torture have been additionally flagged within the report.
“Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: extrajudicial killings and attempted extrajudicial killings, including of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex persons in Chechnya by local government authorities,” the report revealed.
Most of the penal colonies are remoted from the cities, lots of them sprinkled round Siberia just like the gulags.
Some inmates work 16-hour days and others are compelled to observe propaganda on repeat, the New York Times reported. In 2021, high-profile prisoner and Russian opposition chief Aleksei A. Navalny mentioned in an interview that inmates had 5 each day classes of display screen time the place they watched propaganda movies and Russian tv.
“You need to imagine something like a Chinese labor camp, where everybody marches in a line and where video cameras are hung everywhere,” he said to the Times in 2021. “There is constant control and a culture of snitching.”
The Russian court docket mentioned Griner’s jail time will likely be recalculated to mirror what she has already served in pre-trial detention. One day in pre-trial detention will likely be counted as 1 1/2 days in jail, so she nonetheless must serve about eight years in jail.
Griner’s legal professionals Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov mentioned in an electronic mail to the Associated Press that they have been “very disappointed” with the choice as a result of they nonetheless consider “the punishment is excessive and contradicts to the existing court practice.”
“Britthey’s biggest fear is that she is not exchanged and will have to serve the whole sentence in Russia,” they mentioned. “She had hopes for today, as each month, each day away from her family and friends matters to her.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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