Britney Griner’s experience in a Russian penal colony is getting darker and darker.
WNBA superstars Female Penal Colony No. 2 —A facility in the Mordovia region of Russia, whose roots are traced to the Gulag labor camp called Temlag —Serving a nine-year sentence for traveling to Russia with vape cartridges Contains less than 1 gram of cannabis oil.
Nadia Tolokonnikova, a member of the musical group Pussy Riot, who famously spent two years in a Russian penal colony accused of being a “hooligan”, was “horrified” by Griner after learning of her assignment. ‘, he said.
‘I fear that Britney Griner has been transferred to IK-2,’ says Tolokonikova told MSNBC“This is one of the toughest colonies. Literally the toughest in the entire Russian prison system.”
“We were protesting the terrible conditions in the penal colony,” she added, referring to the infamous IK-14 just a few miles away. We know exactly what human rights violations they commit on a daily basis and what kind of torture they use on prisoners.”
Tolokonnikova described the “slavery-like conditions” within Yavas’ facility, which can house 820 women. Prisoners are expected to do manual labor such as cooking, cleaning and sewing for “up to 17 hours a day” without breaks or holidays.
Individuals like Griner are often expected to meet unreasonably high output quotas. And if they don’t meet that standard, Tolokonnikova says they “will be punished. That includes torture. That includes daily torture.”
“Many prisoners can’t stand it and some decide to commit suicide.”
“What I’m really afraid of is Britney hiding the fact that she’s being severely oppressed in this penal colony because that’s what happened to me,” Tolokonnikova continued. “I was told that if I spoke to one person about the abuse, the whole penal colony would suffer because of me. And I would not speak for a year.”
Finally, the then 24-year-old took the courage to speak out in the form of a hunger strike. Several of her penal colony’s dignitaries have since been tried and convicted of wrongdoing.
Now, nearly a decade later, the musician advises Griner to take her imprisonment “by the minute, because you never know when you might be attacked.”
“What gives me hope is that the prisoners who usually get media attention are not tortured,” Tolokonnikova said. “I wasn’t physically tortured. They used physical force against me, just to move me around, but they didn’t beat me. They didn’t rape me. Unfortunately, rapes happen in IK-2 as well.”
“What has empowered me is understanding that it will end at some point and always knowing that there is a certain level of protection because we have lawyers and media attention. This is something other prisoners don’t have. [would be] Do not work in sweatshops. You might think that following the rules would make my life better, but it’s actually a horrible situation. ”
According to Tolokonnikova, the sewing machines are “very old” and inevitably result in injury to prisoners. She described a case where her needle pricked her finger and left her “bloody” but forced to sew uniforms for police officers and Russian military personnel.
While the alternative to solitary confinement sounds even worse, Tolokonnikova claims it’s actually “better than working every day in these aggressive, slave-like working conditions.”
Her full interview with MSNBC is available below.
Read the original article at insider