Posted on 11/12/2022 8:41:03 AM PST by xp38
A member of the Russian feminist group Pussy Riot, who spent almost two years in a penal colony, says she expects WNBA star Brittney Griner will experience labour camp-type conditions as she arrives at an unnamed facility where she could potentially spend the next nine years.In an interview with
National Public Radio, Maria Alyokhina of the Moscow-based feminist protest and performance art group said Griner should expect forced labour, living in barracks with beds for 80 to 100 women, bathing once a week and having very few, if any, amenities.
“For 100 women, there are like three toilets and no hot water,” Alyokhina told NPR, which reached her while on tour in the U.K. “This is a really terrible institution which we received from [the] Soviet Union and it’s totally inhuman,” she said. “The cynical thing is, the work the state provides to the prisoners is sewing uniforms for Russian police and the Russian army,” she claimed.
“This is a legal slavery system. There’s nothing about correction or improvement of people’s behaviour,” she told NPR.
In 2012, Alyokhina was convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred in connection with a protest performance in a church. She received the minimum two-year sentence for the offence, NPR reported at the time.
Figures for Russian incarceration note there were 468,237 imprisoned people in the country, including pre-trial detainees and remand prisoners, in 2020.
Alyokhina encouraged Griner’s supporters to keep voicing concern, writing letters and applying pressure to get her home. At a recent press conference, President Joe Biden said of Griner, “My intention is to get her home,” adding that officials have been engaged in talks on the matter.
Advertisement 4 Article content “My hope is that now that the election is over that Mr. Putin will be able to discuss with us and be willing to talk more seriously about prisoner exchange,” he said.
A statement by White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre notes “every minute that Brittney Griner must endure wrongful detention in Russia is a minute too long.” Members of the administration, as directed by the president, plan “to prevail on her Russian captors to improve her treatment and the conditions she may be forced to endure in a penal colony.”
Aloykhina’s view is it’s unlikely Griner will receive any special treatment. “It doesn’t matter the citizenship of the prisoner,” she told NPR, advising the basketball player “to not forget yourself and not lose your freedom.”
This past February, the basketball star was arrested for travelling with a cannabis vape cartridge in her luggage. In August, Griner was sentenced, as well as ordered to pay almost $21,000, after being found guilty of deliberately bringing cannabis-infused vape cartridges into the country, according to Reuters.
Although possessing more than seven grams of cannabis could result in up to two years of “corrective labour,” Reason reports, Russian authorities claimed the basketball star had smuggled a “significant amount” of narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years.
ESPN noted this week the transfer to the penal colony took Griner’s lawyers and family, as well as U.S. government officials, by surprise.
Her lawyers noted in a statement to CNN on Nov. 9 that “we do not have any information on her exact current location or her final destination,” adding that the standard Russian procedure is to notify by mail the defendant’s attorneys and the U.S. Embassy upon arriving at the destination.
Griner is about to experience real slavery. At least there’s no cotton to pick...
“I am quite sure after these nine years pass she won’t smuggle weed into Russia again.”
And thousands, maybe millions, of Americans who may have been thinking of doing the same - they won’t. In a way, she’s ‘taking one for the team’, actually the country in this case. Likely the first positive thing she ever did for the country.
“In spite of this unacceptable and criminal activity, Pussy Riot was not additionally punished, on the contrary, Putin commuted their sentences and released them from prison and Russia, a year early.”
...and note that they are behaving now over there. Seems their approach to justice is a bit better than ours.
That is great, he’ll learn how to sew.
His “wife” will be so happy for those skills when Brittney’s back home.
“The past few days have been tough—but for some reason this thread has me smiling from ear to ear...”
Interesting that there aren’t any Neocon (Ukraine) supporters on these threads. They must be really want to BLAST Putin for this...but know that won’t go over very well with conservatives.
“Griner is a HE with a schlong.”
Then why is “SHE” a lesbian? Can you point me to a source that says Griner was born a boy?
SHE IS Gay, balanced and unafraid to whine.
Trump would have had her home by now anyway.
ALL BLINKEN CAN DO IS SEND STRONGLY WORDED LETTERS.
Joe Brandon even stamped his feet in a hissy fit.
Made Putin smile. The message is clear. Screw around with Putin and her life will have a mishap.NOt that it would matter much to Brandon.
Russia doesn’t care much for things like gender-switching.
My guess is that they are more interested in punishing her for that, and in showing the rest of the world that they are morally superior to us.
Lucky she didn’t do this in Malaysia or Singapore.
Anyone who purposefully refuses to come out onto the court while the national anthem is being played deserves to be locked away in a Russian prison for nine years.
No sympathy from me.
I was thinking IT was a HE in womens clothing. Didn’t investigate...This is even fuunier...TNX
My wild guess is Griner is a rare bio error. Drs. And parents made a choice as a baby to raise her as female but has mostly male stuff. That body is male. It may be like the runner from Africa who was decided to be a female at birth. These rare occurrences are difficult and sad and very RARE.
Hi.
The ironic thing is Griner’s vape cartridge has already been sold by the jailers for a nice profit.
5.56mm
The articles I saw before are gone. Strange!? I could be wrong, but they said He Fathered his wife’s children. In the article, the Russians reportedly said He was a man.
Three out of the 14 paragraphs in the article share what Griner could face.
That’s a man, baby, yeah!
She looks enough like a guy. But I figure a 6’9” XX female is gonna have some weird hormonal action going on anyway.
“Likely the first positive thing she ever did for the country.”
And think of the cultural enrichment she’ll receive. I’ll bet she only speaks English, now.
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