INDIANAPOLIS, IN - SEPTEMBER 06: Brittney Griner #42 of the Phoenix Mercury is seen during the game against the Indiana Fever at Indiana Farmers Coliseum on September 6, 2021 in Indianapolis, Indiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement.(Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
Britney Griner is being transferred to a penal colony in Russia following her February arrest for cannabis oil possession in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.
She was sentenced to nine years in prison in August, and White House efforts to negotiate her release have yet to be successful. As of Wednesday, her attorneys do not have “any information on her exact current location or her final destination.”
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Her appeal was rejected last month. She was apparently visited by U.S. embassy officials last week before. This past July, the U.S. made an offer it described as “significant” in exchange for the freedom of Griner and Paul Whelan, a former marine who has been detained in Russia since 2018 under accusations of spying.
It’s not officially known what offer they made, but Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has reportedly offered to exchange Griner and Whelan for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer who has been imprisoned in the U.S. since 2012.
In her testimony in July, Griner said that Russian officials didn’t read her rights when she was detained in the airport, and she was provided paltry translation services while being made to sign legal documents she didn’t fully understand without being assigned a lawyer. She also claimed she didn’t intend to bring cannabis oil to the country and said she does not “understand how they ended up in my bag.”
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