IK-2 Yava
ANNOUNCEMENTS•
American basketball player Brittney Griner has been transferred to a Russian penal colony in Mordovia, in a remote area southeast of Moscow. She is serving a nine-year prison sentence for illegal drug possession.
His lawyers have now confirmed that Griner is being held in the IK-2 women’s penal colony in the remote place Java in Mordovia, about 500 kilometers southeast of Moscow. Griner lost his appeal against his conviction in early November. It later became known that she had been transferred to a penal colony, but she was not immediately clear where exactly was he staying.
His attorneys said in a statement “that Griner is doing as well as could be expected.” Griner “tries to stay strong as he adjusts to a new environment.” The question is how long the athlete will stay there.
medical reasons
The Biden administration is doing everything it can to ensure Griner is released as soon as possible. Last summer the Americans had already proposed one exchange of prisoners with Russia ahead.
The Russian prison system does not disclose where inmates are taken until they are actually transferred to the penal colony. For days no one, not even his lawyers, knew where Griner was.
Griner was arrested with cartridges for an e-cigarette that contained cannabis oil. The basketball star denied in court that he knowingly broke the law. She uses the oil in the US for medicinal reasons and talks about a mistake. In court, Griner apologized to her teammates, parents, siblings and partners.
Playing for Yekaterinburg
The athlete had less than a gram of cannabis with him. For this, her lawyer asked for a lenient sentence, but the judge still sentenced her to nine years in prison. US President Biden said at the time that he was disappointed with the verdict.
Griner is one of the best basketball players in the world. He has won gold twice at the Olympics and is also a key player for the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA. She flew to Moscow because she would be playing for Russian team UMMC Yekaterinburg outside of the US basketball season.
