Nov 17, 2022 - World

Brittney Griner has started serving sentence in Russian penal colony

Sareen Habeshian

WNBA basketball player Brittney Griner waits inside a defendants' cage during a hearing in Khimki outside Moscow, on Aug. 4, 2022. Photo: Evgenia Novozhenina/pool/AFP via Getty Images

WNBA star Brittney Griner has begun serving her nine-year sentence at a penal colony outside Moscow, AP reports.

Driving the news: "Brittney is doing as well as could be expected and trying to stay strong as she adapts to a new environment," her lawyers said in a statement obtained by AP.

Griner, 32, was set to be transferred to the penal colony in Mordovia last week, after meeting with U.S. embassy officials.

Catch up quick: Griner was detained in February at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport for having vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage.

She was found guilty on drug charges by a Russian court in August and was sentenced to nine years in prison.
A Russian court rejected her appeal in October.
The Biden administration has been trying to negotiate her release for months — so far to no avail.

Go deeper: What Brittney Griner could face in a Russian penal colony

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Brittney Griner has started serving sentence in Russian penal colony

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