The two-time Olympic gold medalist and WNBA champion, Brittney Griner continues to serve her nine-year prison sentence in the Russian jail for drug possession. On Tuesday, a Russian court upheld her sentence and slightly reduced her jail term.
The Phoenix Mercury star came to Russia to play club basketball in February and later was detained at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport for bringing vape cartridges with cannabis oil in the country. The Russian court sentenced Griner for nine years in prison on August 4.
Griner appeared at the hearing through a video link from her detention center, Correctional Colony No. 1 in Novoye Grishino, north of Moscow. Before the hearing she said, “I’ve been here almost eight months, and people with more severe crimes have been given less than what I was given."
Griner added, " I really hope the court will adjust this sentence because it has been very, very stressful and very traumatic to my mental and my psyche and being away from my family, not being able to communicate.”
The Moscow Regional court upheld her sentence that would lead the WNBA star to continue her jail term in the Russian penal colony. Reportedly, the 32-year-old's only hope to return to her country is a prisoner exchange deal between the US and Russia. T he US offered convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout, also known as 'the merchant of death', earlier this summer in exchange for Griner and Paul Whelan, who is also being held in Russia.