By Victor Kanayo
A Russian court has dismissed US WNBA basketball star Brittney Griner’s appeal against a nine-year sentence for possessing and smuggling vape cartridges containing cannabis oil.
The latest court decision has now paved the way for her to be sent to a penal colony.
US President Joe Biden, whose administration in late July had proposed a deal for a prisoner swap with Russia to secure the release of Griner and former US marine Paul Whelan, said he will not let up efforts to bring them home.
“We’re in constant contact with Russian authorities to get Brittney and others out. So far we’ve not been meeting with much positive response but we’re not stopping,” he said.
Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medallist, was arrested on Feb. 17 at a Moscow airport, a week before Russia sent troops into Ukraine.
The souring of ties between Russia and the West has further complicated the talks between Washington and Moscow to secure her release.
Griner and her lawyers had asked for acquittal or at least a reduction in her sentence, which they said was disproportionate to the offence and at odds with Russian judicial practice.
After retiring for no more than 30 minutes to consider the appeal, the presiding judge said the original verdict was upheld “without changes” except for the counting of time served in pre-trial detention as part of the sentence.
The state prosecutor had said Griner’s Aug. 4 sentence of nine years in a penal colony was “fair”, but Alexander Boykov, one of her lawyers, had told the three-judge panel sitting in Krasnogorsk, on the outskirts of Moscow: “No judge, hand on heart, will honestly say that Griner’s nine-year sentence is in line with Russian criminal law,” Boykov said.
Griner’s lawyers in a statement said it would be some time before Griner was moved to a prison colony, and that they had not yet decided whether to try to launch another appeal.
They also added her case file would have to be translated into English, which would also take some time.
It was not immediately clear where she would be sent.
