Brittney Griner news – update: WNBA star heads to penal colony where abuse, forced work common
The Russian court said that the remaining time the 32-year-old WNBA star must serve will be recalculated based on her pre-trial detention
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A Russian court has denied American basketball star Brittney Griner’s appeal to reduce her prison sentence for drug possession.
Tuesday’s denial paves the way for Ms Griner to serve nine years in a prison colony, unless the US government is able to negotiate a deal for her release.
In her final statement delivered via video from a detention centre outside Moscow, Griner emphasised how mentally taxing her eight-month detention and two trials had been, adding: “I was barely over the significant amount [of cannabis oil] ... People with more severe crimes have gotten less than what I was given.”
“I did not intend to do this,” she closed, before asking the court to take into account the fact that she had pleaded guilty.
The White House immediately struck out at the verdict, calling it “another sham judicial proceeding” in a statement released Tuesday morning while the US Embassy in Moscow lamented that it was another “sad day for the rule of law in Russia”.
Lawyers for the 32-year-old said in a statement on Tuesday that it could be “up to a few months” before she is transferred to a penal colony, where she is expected to serve out the remainder of her sentence.
Kremlin: Any talks about Brittney Griner swap must be confidential
The Kremlin on Wednesday kept the door open for talks on a possible swap involving jailed US basketball star Brittney Griner but reiterated that any such discussions must be kept strictly confidential.
A Russian court on Tuesday rejected Griner’s appeal against her nine-year prison sentence for drug possession. The eight-time all-star center with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and a two-time Olympic gold medalist was convicted Aug. 4 after police said they found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.
Asked if Griner could be freed as part of a prisoners swap with Washington, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a conference call with reporters that “we always say that any contacts about possible exchanges can only be conducted in silence under a tight lid on any information.”
Continue reading the full report below.
Kremlin: Any talks about Brittney Griner swap must be confidential
The Kremlin has reiterated that any discussions about a possible swap involving U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner who is serving a nine-year prison sentence in Russia for drug possession must be strictly confidential
Ex-Democrat Tulsi Gabbard strikes out at Biden for broaching talks with Putin over Griner, but not ‘nuclear holocaust’
Former Rep Tulsi Gabbard, who announced earlier this month that she would be leaving the Democratic party and less than a week later began throwing her weight behind Trump-endorsed candidates, hit out at the Biden administration for engaging in diplomatic talks with Russia over detained WNBA star Brittney Griner.
“What’s more important to Biden? Freeing a basketball star from a Russian prison, or preventing you, your loved ones and billions around the world from a nuclear holocaust?” tweeted the former House member from Hawaii who ran for president as a Democrat in the 2020 election cycle on Wednesday. “Biden refuses to discuss preventing WWIII with Putin, but will happily talk to him about Griner.”
In a video statement shared to her social media accounts earlier this month, she voiced how she would run as an independent going forward after accusing the Democratic party of being “under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness.”
President Biden promises US is not forgetting about Brittney Griner
In remarks on Tuesday, President Joe Biden promised listeners that he and other US officials have not forgotten about detained WNBA star Brittney Griner, nor other Americans who are currently being held custody in Russia.
“We are in constant contact with Russian authorities to get Brittney and others out,” said Mr Biden at a press briefing, before noting that, “so far, we have not been meeting with much positive response, but we’re not stopping.”
Griner’s lawyers say it will be some time before she is moved to prisoner colony
Brittney Griner’s lawyers said in a prepared statement that their client’s chief fear right now is that she will be forced to serve out the full nine-year sentence, Reuters reported.
“Brittney’s biggest fear is that she is not exchanged and will have to serve the whole sentence in Russia. She had hopes for today as each month, each day away from her family and friends matters to her,” the statement read.
They added that it take some time before the 32-year-old was relocated to a prison colony, where she has been sentenced to serve the remainder of her nine-year sentence.
Keep reading more about Russia’s controversial penal colonies with The Independent below.
Brittney Griner follows Pussy Riot to notorious ‘concentration camp’ prison
The WNBA star’s lawyers said their client will be transferred to a Russian penal colony in the next few months
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