MOSCOW — Lawyers for American basketball star Brittney Griner on Monday filed an appeal against her nine-year Russian prison sentence for drugs possession, Russian news agencies reported.
Griner, a center for the Phoenix Mercury and a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was convicted on Aug. 4. She was arrested in February at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport after vape canisters containing cannabis oil were found in her luggage.
Griner played for a women's basketball team in Yekaterinburg during the WNBA off-season. Lawyer Maria Blagovolina was quoted by Russian news agencies on Monday as saying the appeal was filed, but the grounds of the appeal were not immediately clear.
The appeal was expected. Griner's defense team said after Griner was sentenced that it planned to appeal and, under Russian law, had 10 days to do so.