Soon a year of detention in Russia for Brittney Griner. Lawyers for the WNBA player, sentenced to nine years in prison after being found guilty of drug trafficking, have just announced her transfer to a penal colony in the Russian region of Mordovia, located about 500 kilometers southeast of Moscow.
This transfer had been known for more than a week but his representatives and his family did not know the destination. A “delay” which would not be exceptional because according to CBS News, based on the statements of a State Department official, the American detainees go to a clearinghouse before arriving at their final destination. A process that can take days or even weeks.
” We can confirm that Brittney has started serving her sentence at IK-2 in Mordovia. We visited him earlier this week “said lawyers Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boikov in a statement. Penal colony IK-2, Russian abbreviation for “correctional colony number 2”, is located in the city of Iavas (less than 10,000 inhabitants) and has more than 800 prisoners.
” Brittney is doing as well as can be hoped and trying to stay strong as she adjusts to new surroundings », sued his lawyersevoking however a “ very difficult time “.
Joe Biden hopes for a resumption of dialogue
AFP reports that Russian penal colonies are notorious for the mistreatment of their inmates, who are crammed into unsanitary barracks and often without access to adequate care. Human rights NGOs regularly denounce the abuses and acts of torture committed in Russian prisons, often by detainees who maintain good relations with the guards, in exchange for privileges.
The new place of incarceration of the player, originally disclosed by Reuters, is in the same area where former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan is being held. He was arrested in December 2018 and sentenced to 16 years in prison for espionage. There has been talk that the two US nationals are involved in a potential prisoner swap with Russia. They could be exchanged for convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence.
According to CBS News, it is also possible that Moscow wants to recover a second prisoner in the exchange but it is not known who it is. Joe Biden recently said he hoped that, with the midterm elections over, his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin ” will be able to discuss with us and will be ready to talk more seriously about a prisoner exchange “.
It is recalled that the Phoenix Mercury player has been detained since February 2022 in Russia, following the discovery of cannabis oil in her luggage, when she arrived at the airport in the capital.
