The Krasnogorsk court dismissed the appeal of US basketball star Britney Grainer, upholding her August 4 sentence to nine years in prison. The two-time Olympic champion who competed in the Russian Championships was arrested in February last year at a Moscow airport for possession of cans of hemp oil, a substance banned in Russia. He was convicted of drug possession and trafficking.

Greiner appealed to the court via video link from the pre-trial detention center where she is being held in Novy Grishino near Moscow. She admitted her mistake and apologized, as in the first instance, emphasizing that she did not intend to break the law. She asked the court to recognize her guilty plea as a mitigating circumstance and reduce her sentence, emphasizing how difficult her eight-month stay in prison had been for her. “I had just over a significant amount (of hemp oil). People with less serious crimes received shorter sentences than me,” the 32-year-old football player said in particular.

Grainer’s lawyer Maria Blagovolina called the sentence handed down to the American “excessive.” “Nine years in prison is a sentence contrary to judicial practice. There was no intent in her actions. The substance was used for medical reasons, ”Greiner’s lawyer said, in particular. Another of her lawyers, Alexander Boikov, said that “not a single judge who puts his hand on his heart will honestly say that a nine-year term is in line with Russian criminal law.”

Earlier, the prosecutor petitioned to keep the sentence, which he called “fair”.

The court’s decision was condemned by the US Chargé d’Affaires in Russia. Elizabeth Rudd, currently the most senior American diplomat in Moscow, attended the hearing and called the decision “excessive and disproportionate” after the verdict.

Source: MONKEY BEE