Brittney Griner begins sentence in Russian penal colony

(Image credit: EVGENIA NOVOZHENINA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images))

WNBA star Brittney Griner has been transferred to a Russian penal colony about 300 miles southeast of Moscow and has begun serving her sentence, Reuters and The Associated Press report Thurdsay, per Griner's lawyers.

Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport back in February after cannabis vape cartridges were found in her luggage. She was later convicted of drug smuggling and sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison, despite having maintained that she packed the cartridges accidentally.

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"We can confirm that Brittney began serving her sentence at IK-2 in Mordovia. We visited her early this week," Griner's lawyers said in a statement. "Brittney is doing as well as could be expected and trying to stay strong as she adapts to a new environment."

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Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.