Lawyers for American basketball player Britney Greiner, who was sentenced in Russia to nine years in prison for drug trafficking, are appealing her sentence, they said Monday.
The lawyers for the American player said via “Telegram”: The defense team for Britney Grainer appealed the decision of the Khimki court, which issued the ruling against Greiner in early August.
The date of the appeal was not immediately disclosed.
Greiner, who is considered one of the best female basketball players in the world, was arrested in February in Moscow, before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in possession of e-cigarette packages containing cannabis liquid, and fell victim to the geopolitical crisis that has arisen between the United States and Russia.
She admitted possessing the substance, but asserted that she had brought it to Russia by mistake.
And she denied any trafficking in it, stressing that this small amount is for her own use as a pain reliever and prescribed to her by a doctor because she suffers from chronic pain due to many injuries.
Greiner is one of a number of US citizens currently detained in Russia whose release Washington is calling for.
Washington has said several times that it has made an important and serious offer to Moscow to release Greiner and another American imprisoned in Russia, Paul Whelan, who is serving a 16-year prison sentence for espionage.
On Saturday, a senior Russian diplomat confirmed that Moscow and Washington were discussing a possible prisoner exchange that would include Greiner and Victor Bout, a Russian arms dealer held in the United States.
Bout was arrested in Thailand in 2008 and is serving a 25-year prison sentence in the United States. And his extraordinary career was one of the inspirations for the movie “Lord of War”, in which Nicholas Cage plays an arms dealer.