A Russian court has rejected an appeal by US basketball star Brittney Griner against her “traumatic” nine-year jail term for drugs charges.
The court near Moscow upheld the sentence, with the state prosecutor calling it “fair”.
The double Olympic winner apologised for her “honest mistake” in her appeal hearing via video link, saying it had been “very, very stressful”.
Griner, 32, was convicted in August of smuggling and possessing cannabis oil.
The sportswoman’s lawyer, Alexander Boykov, told the court, “No judge, hand on heart, will honestly say that Griner’s nine-year sentence is in line with Russian criminal law.”
A top US diplomat, who attended the hearing, called the sentence “excessive and disproportionate”.
Griner will serve the jail term in a penal colony.
Considered one of the world’s top players, she was detained on 17 February at an airport near Moscow when vape cartridges containing cannabis oil were found in her luggage.
She had come to Russia to play club basketball during the US off-season.
Her case has become subject to high-profile diplomacy between the US and Russia, whose relations plummeted after Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February.
Source: BBC
