US basketball player Brittney Griner has appealed her nine-year sentence in Russia. This was announced by her lawyers on Monday in the Telegram messenger service. A date for the hearing has not yet been set. Griner was arrested on arrival in Moscow in February. Cartridges for e-cigarettes with cannabis oil were found in their luggage. A Russian court sentenced the 31-year-old to nine years in prison for drug smuggling in early August.
Relations between Moscow and Washington are considered tense because of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine. At the weekend, Russia confirmed talks about a prisoner exchange for the first time.
It is also about the notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. Bout could be exchanged for Griner, the head of the North America department at the Russian Foreign Ministry, Alexander Dachyev, told the state news agency Tass.
