Brittney Griner (Natalia Kolesnikova-AFP-Getty Images)
*A few weeks ago it was reported that Brittney Griner has been moved to a Russian penal colony, where she’ll serve her 9-year prison sentence. Well, a Russian musician who spent two years in a penal colony sat down with MSNBC for an exclusive interview on what Brittney would be facing.
Griner was sent to female penal colony No. 2 to serve her nine-year sentence for traveling into Russia with vape cartridges containing less than a gram of cannabis oil.
Nadya Tolokonnikova, a member of the musical group “Pussy Riot” spent two years in a Russian penal colony on “hooliganism” charges and says she’s “terrified” for Brittney after learning about her fate.
“I’m terrified that Brittney Griner was moved to IK-2,” Tolokonnikova told MSNBC. “It’s one of the harshest colonies — it is literally the harshest colony in the whole Russian prison system.”
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Brittney Griner – showing pic (Alexander Zemlianichenko-Pool-AFP-Getty Images)
“I was protesting terrible conditions in my penal colony,” Tolokonnikova continued, referring to the facility she was in just a few miles away. “But I know every single chief official who works at IK-2, and I know exactly what human rights abuses they perform on a daily basis and the kind of torture they use against prisoners.”
She described the “slave-like conditions.” ‘Prisoners are expected to perform manual labor — including tasks like cooking, cleaning, and sewing — for “up to 17 hours a day” without breaks or days off.’
Individuals like Griner are expected to meet output quotas that are often unreasonably high. And if they don’t meet those standards, Tolokonnikova says they’ll “be punished, and that includes torture — and that includes daily torture.”’
