Featured Image Credit: Sipa US/ Alamy. REUTERS/Alamy.
Topics: Russia, US News, Crime, Drugs, World News, Basketball
Rachel Lang
Topics: Russia, US News, Crime, Drugs, World News, Basketball
American WNBA star Brittney Griner is being moved to a Russian penal colony to serve out her nine year sentence.
Her lawyers, family, and the US consulate currently have no clue to the current location of the American Olympian after she fell off the radar during her transfer to one of Russia's notorious penal colonies.
Her lawyers, Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov, confirmed to CNN that they have no information on her location or to what jail she is being sent to.
"In accordance with the standard Russian procedure, the lawyers, as well as the US Embassy, should be notified upon her arrival at her destination," they said.
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"Notification is given via official mail and normally takes up to two weeks to be received."
That means it could be weeks before Griner's family or the American embassy have any idea where the WNBA star is in Russia.
Russia's penal colonies are known for their incredibly grim conditions, with previous inmates describing slave-like treatment and a harrowing quality of life.
Russian opposition leader, lawyer, and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny served time in a penal colony not far from Moscow and once described the jail as a 'friendly concentration camp' in an Instagram post.
"Video cameras are everywhere, everyone is watched and at the slightest violation they make a report," Putin’s most outspoken critic said.
"I think someone upstairs read Orwell's 1984 and said: 'Yeah, cool. Let's do this. Education through dehumanisation'."
Griner’s agent, Lindsay Colas, has expressed her concern for her client's health and well-being.
"As we work through this very difficult phase of not knowing exactly where BG is or how she is doing, we ask for the public’s support in continuing to write letters and express their love and care for her," she said in a statement, as per CNN.
Griner was arrested at a Russian airport back in February after police allegedly found cannabis oil cartridges in her luggage.
The basketballer only had 0.7 grams of THC in her possession when she was arrested.
The 31-year-old has remained in Russian custody ever since and was convicted in August for drug smuggling and possession.
The Olympic champion has since tried to appeal her nine year sentence, but it was rejected by the Russian court.
Griner had been in Russia to play for Russian basketball team UMMC Ekaterinburg during the off-season of the WNBA.