Russian court rejects Brittney Griner’s appeal against 9-year sentence

MOSCOW: A Russian court has upheld the nine-year prison sentence handed to American basketball star Brittney Griner for drug possession, rejecting her appeal. Griner, an eight-time all-star center with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was convicted Aug. 4 after police said they found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.

The Moscow region court ruled Tuesday to uphold the sentence. In the ruling the court stated, however, that the time Griner will have to serve in prison will be recalculated with her time in pre-trial detention taken into account. One day in pre-trial detention will be counted as 1.5 days in prison, so the basketball player will have to serve around eight years in prison.

Griner’s February arrest came at a time of heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington, just days before Russia sent troops into Ukraine. At the time, Griner was returning to Russia, where she played during the US league’s offseason. Griner admitted she had the canisters in her luggage but testified she inadvertently packed them in haste and had no criminal intent.

Her defense team presented written statements saying she had been prescribed cannabis to treat pain. The nine-year sentence was close to the maximum of 10 years, and Griner’s lawyers argued after the conviction that the punishment was excessive. They said in similar cases defendants have received an average sentence of about five years, with about a third of them granted parole.