{"id":63,"date":"2022-10-25T13:28:58","date_gmt":"2022-10-25T13:28:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/2022\/10\/25\/brittney-griner-russian-court-rejects-appeal-over-jail-term-3\/"},"modified":"2022-10-25T13:28:58","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T13:28:58","slug":"brittney-griner-russian-court-rejects-appeal-over-jail-term-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/brittney-griner-russian-court-rejects-appeal-over-jail-term-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Brittney Griner: Russian court rejects appeal over jail term"},"content":{"rendered":"
Brittney Griner: Russian court rejects appeal over jail term<\/a><\/p>\n
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\"Brittney<\/picture><\/span>Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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By Merlyn Thomas<\/div>\n
BBC News<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A Russian court has rejected an appeal by US basketball star Brittney Griner against her “traumatic” nine-year jail term for drugs charges.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The court near Moscow upheld the sentence, with the state prosecutor calling it “fair”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The double Olympic winner apologised for her “honest mistake” in her appeal hearing via video link, saying it had been “very, very stressful”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Griner, 32, was convicted in August of smuggling and possessing cannabis oil.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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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.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A top US diplomat, who attended the hearing, called the sentence “excessive and disproportionate”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Griner will serve the jail term in a penal colony. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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She had come to Russia to play club basketball during the US off-season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Her case has become subject to high-profile diplomacy between the US and Russia, whose relations plummeted after Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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More on this story<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n