Jailed US basketball player Brittney Griner being moved to penal colony in Russia: Lawyers

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - US women’s basketball star Brittney Griner is in the process of being moved from jail to a penal colony in Russia, her lawyers said on Wednesday.

"We do not have any information on her exact current location or her final destination," Griner’s lawyers Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov said in a statement.

The two lawyers also indicated that they, as well as the US Embassy in Moscow, should be notified upon her arrival at the location where she is taken, which usually takes "up to two weeks.”

The Moscow Region Court on Oct. 25 upheld a nine-year prison sentence for Griner, whose appeal to the decision was rejected.

Griner was arrested in February at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport on suspicion of trying to illegally import hashish oil into Russia.

She pleaded guilty in July to drug charges but has maintained she used medicinal cannabis to treat pain and denied intending to violate Russian law.

In August, Moscow’s Khimki City Court sentenced Griner to nine years in prison and a fine of 1 million rubles ($15,500).

Calling the sentence “unacceptable,” US President Joe Biden urged Russia “to release her immediately so she can be with her wife, loved ones, friends, and teammates.”

Griner is contracted to the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA, and since 2014, she has played for BC UMMC Ekaterinburg in the Russian Women's Basketball Premier League.