Brittney Griner attends an appeal hearing

• US basketball player Brittney Griner is appealing her nine-year sentence to prison.
• This is for drug possession and smuggling before a Russian court.
• She is participating via video link from a detention facility.

US basketball player Brittney Griner is appealing her nine-year sentence to prison for drug possession and smuggling before a Russian court.

Today, Griner is participating via video link from a detention facility in the nearby town of Novoye Grishino as three judges preside over the appeals court in Krasnogorsk, close to Moscow.

Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov, her attorneys, already stated that they anticipate receiving a ruling on Griner’s appeal later today.

On February 17, Griner was detained at a Moscow airport in possession of vape cartridges containing cannabis oil, which is prohibited in Russia.

She admitted admission to her conviction for cocaine possession and trafficking on August 4, and was sentenced to nine years in prison while claiming she had made an “honest mistake” and had not intended to breach the law.

Ned Price, a spokesman for the US State Department, said yesterday that there had been “active negotiations, particularly in recent days,” and that Washington was seeking to liberate Griner and former US Marine Paul Whelan, who is serving 16 years in prison after being found guilty of spying.

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