Jailed US basketball star Brittney Griner has been moved to a penal colony in Russia, her authorized workforce has stated.
It comes after a Russian court docket rejected an attraction in opposition to her nine-year jail sentence for drug possession final month.
“Brittney was transferred from the detention centre in Iksha on 4 November. She is now on her way to a penal colony,” an announcement from her authorized workforce stated.
“We do not have any information on her exact current location or her final destination.”
The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) participant was arrested at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow on 17 February as she made her approach again to Russia to play for UMMC Yekaterinburg, throughout the US WNBA low season.
She was convicted on 4 August after police stated they discovered vape canisters containing hashish oil in her baggage.
The US authorities says Griner, 32, was wrongfully detained.
It has supplied to alternate her for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms seller serving a 25-year jail sentence within the US.
On Wednesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre issued an announcement saying: “Every minute that Brittney Griner should endure wrongful detention in Russia is a minute too lengthy.
“As the administration continues to work tirelessly to secure her release, the president has directed the administration to prevail on her Russian captors to improve her treatment and the conditions she may be forced to endure in a penal colony.
“As we’ve stated earlier than, the US authorities made a major supply to the Russians to resolve the present unacceptable and wrongful detentions of American residents.”
Griner, who was also a centre for WNBA Western Conference team Phoenix Mercury and is a two-time Olympic gold medallist, said she had made an “sincere mistake” by getting into Russia with hashish oil – which is against the law within the nation – and didn’t intend to interrupt the regulation.
Her defence workforce offered written statements that she had been prescribed hashish to deal with ache.
Source: information.sky.com”