This US basketball player, Brittney Griner, has been jailed in Russia on drug charges.
She was handed a nine-year sentence for possessing two vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport.
Cannabis is illegal in Russia for both medicinal and recreational purposes.
Her arrest came amid heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington, just days before Russia invaded Ukraine
Recently, the 32-year-old appeared in court via video call from a detention centre near Moscow.
She asked the regional court in Moscow to reduce her “traumatic” sentence.
But, the court has rejected the appeal by Griner.
Who is Brittney Griner?
Brittney Griner is considered among the best and most dominant women players ever to play the game.
She is known as “BG” to basketball fans
She is a double Olympic champion in 2016 and 2020, a two-time FIBA World Cup winner, a four-time EuroLeague titlist with Yekaterinburg, a WNBA victor with Mercury and an eight-time WNBA All-Star.
She is 6 feet and 9 inches tall
She has a free-flowing athletic ability and was known as “the high school girl who can dunk a basketball”
She is also a pioneer off the court, coming out as gay at the age of 22.
What lies ahead?
Griner’s lawyers, Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov were also disappointed after hearing the court’s decision.
Maria Blagovolina says, this decision contradicts all the existing legal precedents known to them.
They will discuss their next moves with Griner concerning a new appeal
And they would need to use all tools of legal defence available to them
Since her appeal has failed, she could be moved to one of Russia’s far-flung prison colonies within weeks.