The American basketball player jailed in Russia after being found guilty on drug trafficking charges has been transferred to a hellish penal unit.
The Russian basketball player Brittney Griner was recently transferred, and in complete secrecy, to a penal colony in Republic of Mordavia. Is he female detention center IK-2, it was part of a vast network of penal colonies in the northwestern Mordovian region: “This is a place any prisoner would want to avoid”said the sociologist Olga Zeveleva.
Btttney Griner his hell began in february when he was found in his luggage, at the airport in sheremetyevoof Moscow, electronic vaporizer cartridges with less than one gram of cannabis oil. It remained at the disposal of Russian justice in the midst of diplomatic tension between Moscow and Washington. Months later, his sentence was confirmed. nine years in prison and transferred to a prison unit, which is theheirof the dreaded gulags, built in the 1930s, during the Stalin.
IK-2 is where the North American athlete is now, while, through diplomatic channels and formal channels, they are trying to exchange the prisoners Victor Bout, The merchant of deathconfined to USA.
“The prisons in Mordovia are notorious, even by Russian standards. The prisons there are notorious for brutal regimes and human rights violations.”said Olga Zevelevasociologist at the University of Helsinki.
“Prisoners do not enjoy any private space. You are not allowed to hang pictures of your loved ones or store other personal belongings. Everything is very sterile and lonely.”said Judith PallottRussian professor of human geography at Oxford University, who visited IK-2 in 2017.
The penal units are known for their sewing workshops, where Griner spends about 12 hours a day making uniforms for prison service and the Russian army. “The Russian prison system is not interested in rehabilitation, it is based on retribution and punishment. It is a system maintained by violence”commented pallet indicating that intimidation by other female prisoners, as well as violence by prison guards, is frequent.
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova ofPuke mess´ spent two years in IK-14 published a letter describing the conditions under which he must: “A menacing and stressful atmosphere permeates the workplace. Endlessly deprived of sleep, overwhelmed by the endless race to meet inhumanly large quotas, the prisoners are always on the verge of collapse, shouting at each other, fighting over the smallest things.. And she said she worked 17 hours a day, sewing, and with tired colleagues. Griner, 32, is 2.06 meters tall, so it will be physically demanding for him to adapt to machines that aren’t ready for his height.
“Griner was sent to the worst prison in all of Russia. He worked 16 hours a day sewing and preparing uniforms. There were injuries because the material and machinery were broken and old. Beatings and torture were normal , there is almost no medical aid of any kind. If they are not working in uniform, the prisoners do very hard physical work, such as digging ditches, breaking ice caps… if one refuses to perform the tasks ordered, they are sent to a punishment cell, isolated in a minimal and freezing space. The barracks have between three and five bathrooms for more than 100 occupants. There is no hot water… places which was like during the gulags, nothing was fixed or changed. The conditions were basically slavery. Some decided to commit suicide, which is not easy in a place like this” added Tolokonnikova .
Olga Shilayevawho was detained in IK-2, admitted that he was constantly beaten Vyacheslav Kimyaeva senior prison official who was later promoted to head of the colony.
The US government hopes to reach an agreement for a prisoner exchange and to finalize the release of Brittney Griner. Property Joe Biden, President of the United States, He has already met with the relatives of the basketball player and the country has made several announcements in this regard through its press office. But Russia I am considering itpart of a media show‘and exhorted them’seriousness and formal channels of negotiation‘ if they intend to get along.
Source: Tycsports
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