JAKARTA - A Russian court will hear an appeal filed by American basketball player Brittney Griner on October 25. Griner was sentenced to 9 years in prison in August for possession of drugs.
The Moscow Regional Court will be responsible for studying the appeal, a court spokesman told local agencies.
According to Marca, Tuesday, a hearing that will assess the fairness of the sentence issued on August 4 by the Khimki City Court (Mskow area) will begin at 11.00 a.m.
At that time, the judge decided that the sportsman was "guilty for committing a crime" regulated by Articles 228 and 229.1 of the Russian Criminal Code (milikance and drug trafficking).
The world and Olympic champion, who was arrested last February at Moscow airport with cannabis oil in his suitcase, accepted the ruling, although during the trial he asked for clemency after admitting his guilt.
However, his lawyer, who questioned the marijuana samples taken by Russian police following his arrest as evidence, filed an appeal against the ruling on August 15.
Russian law punishes a crime committed by Americans as high as 2.06 meters, which plays for the Russian team UMMC Yekaterinburg, with a maximum sentence of ten years in prison.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken offered Griner and Paul Whelan, who were sentenced to 16 years for espionage, with Victor But who was detained 25 years in US prison to Russia.
However, the White House rejected Russia's "reply proposal", which sought to include Russia's second detainee in the exchange, Chechen Vadim Krasikov, CNN reported.
In mid-September, US President Joe Biden, who called for Griner's immediate release, welcomed the basketball player's relatives to the White House Oval Office.
The US stated that it had made a "serious proposal for Griner and Whelan to go home," but argued that Moscow had not yet answered.
Shortly thereafter, the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed it was ready to negotiate Russian prisoner swaps with US detainees at all times.
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