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U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner transferred to Russian penal colony

Source: Interfax

U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, who was convicted on drug smuggling charges by a Russian court in August, has been moved out of the Moscow remand prison where she had been since her arrest and sent to the penal colony where she will serve the rest of her nine-year sentence.

“At the moment, we don’t have any information about her current location or destination,” her lawyers said in a statement. Griner reportedly left the remand prison on November 4.

Brittney Griner was first arrested in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport in February after vape cartridges containing hashish oil were found in her luggage. In August, a Russian court sentenced her to nine years in a penal colony.

This summer, Russia and the U.S. were reported to be discussing a possible prison exchange that would include Griner and Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

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