Reports: WNBA star Brittney Griner transferred to Russian forced labor camp

Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner has been held captive in Russia since February this year. In August, she was convicted guilty of attempting to import illegal drugs to Russia. Recent reports say that Griner now faces a nine-year prison term in the penal colony.

During her trial, Brittney Griner appealed to the court on October 25 to potentially reduce her imprisonment sentence. Unfortunately for her, the appeal was denied last Tuesday and she will remain behind bars for nine years. Recent updates say that Griner has already been transferred to the Russian forced labor camp.

The New York Times reports that it's unclear what will happen next. Her lawyers have not indicated yet if they will take the matter to higher courts in Russia. Other sources indicate that Griner had no intention of smuggling drugs into Russia. Her doctor was responsible for prescribing cannabis to ease the agony of Griner's injuries.

Brittney Griner trial: What we know so far

Luckily for Brittney Griner, the remainder of her imprisonment sentence will be revised based on how long she spent in pre-trial detention as she has been in Russian custody for roughly eight months. Griner's sentence now has about eight years left because one day of pretrial detention is equivalent to 1.5 days in jail.

According to experts, Griner's best chance of a speedy release is if the Biden administration manages to swap her for a prominent Russian detainee.

Kremlin officials seem eager to draw parallels between Griner's fate and that of Viktor Bout, a notorious Russian arms dealer known as the 'Merchant of Death' who is currently serving a 25-year prison term for attempting to sell weapons to individuals who claimed they intended to kill Americans.

CBS Sports reported that while the US government has sought to secure Griner's release, Russia appears to be less concerned about the situation. Yury Ushakov, a Kremlin aide, told Rossiya-1 on October 16 that achieving a settlement is not their top priority. The statement was made exactly a week after Bill Richardson revealed on CNN that he had been in talks with Russian authorities.

Brittney Griner is in a tough spot right now. While it's likely that having possession of THC was meant to help alleviate the pain she was feeling, she still violated a Russian law. Hopefully, everyone coming to Griner's aid can come up with a solution to get her out of this mess.