CNN
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American basketball star Brittney Griner has been transferred to a penal colony in Yavas, within the western Russian area of Mordovia, her attorneys mentioned Thursday, ending days of hypothesis over her whereabouts.
Her attorneys, Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov, thanked everybody who has reached out in help.
“First, on behalf of Brittney, we want to thank everybody who has expressed look after her,” they mentioned in a press release. “We will affirm that Brittney started serving her sentence at IK-2 in Mordovia.
“We visited her early this week. Brittney is doing in addition to could possibly be anticipated and making an attempt to remain robust as she adapts to a brand new setting. Contemplating that it is a very difficult interval for her, there will probably be no additional feedback from us.”
On Wednesday, the US State Division mentioned it had been in contact with Griner’s authorized group and was conscious of stories she had been despatched to a penal colony roughly a seven-hour drive southeast of Moscow.
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“Nonetheless, the Russian Federation has nonetheless failed to offer any official notification for such a transfer of a U.S. citizen, which we strongly protest. The Embassy has continued to press for extra details about her switch and present location,” a spokesperson mentioned.
Griner’s representatives confirmed beforehand she had been transferred from a detention middle in Iksha on November 4 – and that she was destined for a penal colony – however “we would not have any info on her actual present location or her closing vacation spot. In accordance with the usual Russian process, the attorneys, in addition to the U.S. Embassy, must be notified upon her arrival at her vacation spot. Notification is given by way of official mail and usually takes as much as two weeks to be obtained.”
The Olympic gold medalist and onetime WNBA champ is making an attempt to stay robust after 9 months separated from her family members, her agent, Lindsay Colas, mentioned.
“At the moment, we won’t be sharing any additional particulars, however need to specific our deepest due to the Biden Administration, the Richardson Middle, and to everybody who has reached out to supply phrases of encouragement to her,” she mentioned. Letters have poured in from all over the world and BG has been buoyed by the help. Every letter issues and we encourage everybody to proceed to put in writing and share your help.”
The Richardson Middle for International Engagement “promotes international peace and dialogue by figuring out and dealing on areas of alternative for engagement and citizen diplomacy with international locations and communities not often open to extra formal diplomatic channels,” its web site says.
The first concern has been Griner’s well being and well-being, Colas mentioned earlier this week.
Whereas circumstances differ amongst Russian penal colonies, political prisoners are sometimes positioned in harsh circumstances the place they are often subjected to “solitary confinement or punitive stays in psychiatric items,” the State Division’s human rights report says.
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Russian legislation additionally permits pressured labor in penal colonies, and in some circumstances, inmates have been tortured to demise, the report says. There are also stories of jail authorities recruiting inmates to abuse different inmates, the report provides.
That Griner’s group didn’t know her whereabouts earlier is just not uncommon. Transfers to penal colonies are secret processes in Russia, with family and attorneys usually unaware of the place a prisoner is being despatched for a number of days, in response to Amnesty Worldwide.
Final month, Griner misplaced her attraction in opposition to a nine-year drug sentence. She was detained in February and convicted in August after acknowledging she had vape cartridges containing hashish. She has repeatedly apologized for bringing a small quantity of the substance into the nation, the place she performed basketball within the offseason.
Mordovia is similar area the place American Paul Whelan is being held. The previous U.S. Marine is serving 16 years in a unique penal colony on espionage prices he denies.
Griner’s detention has raised considerations she is getting used as a political pawn in Russia’s conflict in opposition to Ukraine.
Most of Russia’s prisons are penal colonies, the place inmates are housed in barracks and are sometimes put to work, in response to a report by Poland-based assume tank the Centre for Japanese Research, often known as the OSW. Greater than 800 such amenities existed throughout Russia as of 2019, the group mentioned.
Constructed throughout the Soviet Union, a lot of the colonies have been likened to Soviet-era gulags; jail camps that expanded throughout the area throughout Josef Stalin’s rule within the mid-Twentieth century.
Biden meets households of Russia detainees
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Russia homes practically half 1,000,000 prisoners in its amenities, one of many highest charges in Europe, in response to the World Jail Transient, however numbers have declined in recent times – in distinction to most components of the world.
The extent of supervision and restrictions positioned on inmates at this time depends upon the ability to which they’re sentenced. Not all require labor, however a number of high-profile dissidents, activists and overseas nationals who’ve been despatched to colonies describe harrowing and troublesome experiences.
Inmates are sometimes taken huge distances throughout the nation. Journeys to colonies are harmful and may final so long as one month, in response to Amnesty Worldwide. The journeys usually happen in cramped practice carriages, and inmates usually arrive in overcrowded amenities with poor and ageing infrastructure, the OSW discovered.
“Regardless of a number of makes an attempt to reform the jail system in Russia, they nonetheless resemble the Soviet Gulag,” the group mentioned. “Human rights violations and torture are frequent.”
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