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| Brittney Griner: Russian court rejects appeal over jail term | |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| The US basketball star is considered one of the world's top players | |
| A Russian court has rejected an appeal by US basketball star Brittney Griner against her "traumatic" nine-year jail term for drugs charges. | A Russian court has rejected an appeal by US basketball star Brittney Griner against her "traumatic" nine-year jail term for drugs charges. |
| The court near Moscow upheld the sentence, with the state prosecutor calling it "fair". | The court near Moscow upheld the sentence, with the state prosecutor calling it "fair". |
| The double Olympic winner apologised for her "honest mistake" in her appeal hearing via video link, saying it had been "very, very stressful". | The double Olympic winner apologised for her "honest mistake" in her appeal hearing via video link, saying it had been "very, very stressful". |
| Griner, 32, was convicted in August of smuggling and possessing cannabis oil. | |
| 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." | 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." |
| A top US diplomat, who attended the hearing, called the sentence "excessive and disproportionate". | |
| Griner will serve the jail term in a penal colony. | |
| 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. | |
| She had come to Russia to play club basketball during the US off-season. | She had come to Russia to play club basketball during the US off-season. |
| Her case has become subject to high-profile diplomacy between the US and Russia, whose relations plummeted after Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February. | |