US basketball participant Brittney Griner has been moved to a penal colony in Russia, her legal professionals stated on Wednesday.
The jailed Olympian was once reportedly transferred from a detention centre in Iksha, north of Moscow, closing week.
“We do not have any information on her exact current location or her final destination,” a statement from her legal team read
Griner was convicted of drug offences in August after Russian police said they found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.
Last month, a court rejected her appeal against the nine-year prison sentence.
Griner has admitted that she had the canisters in her luggage but says she had no criminal intent and had been prescribed cannabis to treat pain.
“Every minute that Brittney Griner will have to undergo wrongful detention in Russia is a minute too lengthy,” said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
“As the [US] Administration continues to paintings tirelessly to safe her liberate, the President has …[called on] her Russian captors to support her remedy and the prerequisites she could also be compelled to undergo in a penal colony,” she added.
“As we now have stated prior to, the United States Government made an important be offering to the Russians to get to the bottom of the present unacceptable and wrongful detentions of American electorate.”
The two-time Olympic gold medalist was once arrested amid heightened tensions between the United States and Russia, simply days prior to Russia invaded Ukraine. The US has stated the case is politically motivated.
