Since losing her appeal in regards to her nine-year jail term for the charge of drug smuggling, WNBA star Brittney Griner is being transferred to a Russian penal colony where she will serve the remainder of her sentence.
Griner has been detained for approximately eight months and will now be transferred to an unknown location. The lawyers and the family of Brittney Griner will have no knowledge of her exact location for a significant amount of time because notification is sent to the attorneys by official mail, and it normally takes up to two weeks to be received.
The 32-year-old basketball star became a member of the Phoenix Mercury back in 2013, and a year later, she led her team to a championship victory. Despite the fact that Griner was one of the biggest and brightest stars of the Women’s National Basketball Association, her compensation didn’t match her star power.
At the conclusion of each WNBA season, Griner and some of the other notable stars of the league would play overseas and make five times the total income they would receive for playing in the United States. Griner has been a member of the EuroLeague team UMMC Ekaterinburg since 2014.
When Griner was traveling to her second job back in February 2022, she experienced a delay when she made an attempt to walk through customs. A sniffer dog led authorities to search Griner’s carry-on luggage, and she was placed under arrest for possessing cannabis vape cartridges containing the marijuana concentrate hashish oil.
Now since her appeal was denied, Brittney Griner must endure the next phase of the process, which includes a transfer from the Moscow detention center to an unfortunate stay at a Russian penal colony. This is a move that Griner and her family have dreaded since she was convicted back in August.
It will be extremely difficult for Griner to communicate once inside the penal colony due to the fact that everyone speaks Russian. The penal colonies are notorious for their harsh conditions, such as overcrowding, mandatory manual labor, poor hygiene, abuse by guards and inmates, poor sanitation, food shortages, and the lack of medical care.
As Brittney Griner is subjected to this unfortunate ordeal, President Joe Biden stays committed in regard to negotiating the release of the WNBA Star. Biden addressed the media a few hours after Griner’s lawyer revealed her transfer status.
“My hope is that now the election is over, that Mr. Putin will be able to discuss with us and be more willing to talk more seriously about a prisoner exchange.”
In a statement released on Wednesday, the White House said it has continued to follow up on a “significant offer” to Russia while putting additional proposals on the table to secure the release of both Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan.
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