*Brittney Griner’s appeal of her nine-year prison sentence in Russia was reportedly rejected in Russian court on Tuesday.
In February, Griner was detained by Russian customs after they found cartridges containing less than a gram of hashish oil in her luggage. She was arrested on drug charges and in August, the two-time Olympic gold medalist was sentenced to nine years in prison.
As reported by CNN, prior to her sentencing on Aug. 4, Griner apologized to the court and asked for leniency. As reported by Complex, after her unsuccessful appeal, the Moscow court reportedly said her prison sentence “will be recalculated” to include the time the WNBA star was detained ahead of trial.
Griner’s lawyer previously said her client remains hopeful about a possible prisoner exchange, PEOPLE reported.
“Brittney is stressed and very much concerned with the future,” her lawyer Maria Blagovolina told PEOPLE.
READ MORE: Brittney Griner’s HORRIBLE Russian Jail Conditions Revealed
Meanwhile, we reported previously that WNBA players are opting not to play in Russia during the off-season amid Griner’s highly publicized imprisonment in the country for drug smuggling, The AP reports.
“Honestly my time in Russia has been wonderful, but especially with BG still wrongfully detained there, nobody’s going to go there until she’s home,” said Breanna Stewart, a Griner teammate on the Russian team, that paid the player millions. “I think that, you know, now, people want to go overseas and if the money is not much different, they want to be in a better place.”
Per The AP: “Nearly a dozen WNBA players competed in Russia last winter and none of them are heading back this year.”
“The thing about it is, we were treated so well by our club and made such strong relationships with those people, I would never close the door on that,” WNBA player Courtney Vandersloot said. “The whole situation with BG makes it really hard to think that it’s safe for anyone to go back there right now.”
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