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Added on the 18/11/2022 18:38:43 - Copyright : France 24 EN
Basketball star Brittney Griner has been sent to a remote Russian penal colony and has started serving her sentence. The IK-2 penal colony is in the town of Yavas in the central region of Mordovia - a few hundred kilometres southeast of Moscow - known for its harsh climate. IK stands for a "corrective colony", the most common type of prison in Russia. IMAGES
"I would say to everyone that is wrongfully detained right now across the world: stay strong, keep fighting, don't give up," says Brittney Griner, US women's basketball player for the Phoenix Mercury team, as she holds her first press conference since her release from a Russian prison. SOUNDBITE
Speaking via video link, US basketball star Brittney Griner asks a Russian court to reduce her 'traumatic' nine-year prison sentence, issued on drug charges. SOUNDBITE
US basketball star Brittney Griner appears in court in Khimki, Russia, for a hearing in her trial for charges of drug smuggling. She was arrested at a Moscow airport in February for possessing vape cartridges with cannabis oil, as she traveled to to Russia to play club basketball with UMMC Ekaterinburg. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in a bid to find a way home for Griner as well as Paul Whelan, a former Marine jailed on espionage charges he denies. IMAGES
US basketball player Brittney Griner, who was sentenced to nine years in a Russian penal colony in August for drug smuggling, is seen on a screen via a video link from a remand prison before a court hearing to consider an appeal against her sentence. The hearing is held at the Moscow regional court. IMAGES
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre urges Moscow to accept the United States' "substantial offer" of a deal for the release of basketball star Brittney Griner and another American citizen, after Griner was sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison on drug charges. "We are willing to take every step possible to bring home our people," adds Jean-Pierre during a press briefing. SOUNDBITE