(Krasnogorsk) Russian justice on Tuesday rejected the appeal of American basketball player Brittney Griner, sentenced in Russia to nine years in prison for cannabis trafficking and who asked the court to reduce her “traumatic” sentence.
Posted at 7:13 a.m.
Updated at 8:40 a.m.
The court decided to “leave unchanged” the verdict pronounced last August against the American basketball star, declared judge Elena Vorontsova, while specifying that justice will take into account the months already spent in prison by Mme Griner, incarcerated since March, and count each day of this detention as a day and a half.
“I really hope the court will adjust this verdict because it has been very, very stressful and very traumatic for my mental and psychological state,” she said earlier today.
PHOTO EVGENIA NOVOZHENINA, REUTERS
Brittney Griner was arrested in February in the Russian capital in possession of a vaporizer containing cannabis-based liquid.
She admitted to having possessed this substance, however claiming to have brought it to Russia inadvertently and to use it legally in the United States as a painkiller.
She had gone to Russia to play in the U.S. offseason, a common practice for WNBA female basketball players who often make a better living abroad than in the United States.
The case of this woman, who was sentenced last August to nine years in prison for cannabis trafficking, has since taken on geopolitical significance in the context of the crisis between Moscow and Washington linked to the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
Other American citizens are currently imprisoned in Russia and the United States also wants to secure their release.
Washington has repeatedly said it has made a “substantial offer” to release two Americans detained in Russia, Brittney Griner and a former US soldier, Paul Whelan.
According to Russian diplomatic sources, a possible exchange of prisoners could notably concern Brittney Griner and a Russian arms trafficker detained in the United States, Viktor Bout.
Mr. Bout was arrested in Thailand in 2008 and is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence in the United States.