Brittney Griner's 9-year conviction upheld by Russian court

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(Image credit: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV / Contributor/ Getty Images)

Brittney Griner's drug smuggling conviction was upheld after a Russian court denied her appeal on Tuesday, Good Morning America reports. Griner is currently facing a nine-year sentence after pleading guilty in July.

Griner appeared on a video call for her appeal hearing and pleaded with the court to reassess the length of her sentence, noting that people convicted of similar crimes were given shorter sentences. Griner reasserted that the vape cartridges containing cannabis oil found in her luggage were there mistakenly, and she did not intend to smuggle them.

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Theara Coleman, The Week US

Theara Coleman has worked as a staff writer at The Week since September 2022. She frequently writes about technology, education, literature and general news. She was previously a contributing writer and assistant editor at Honeysuckle Magazine, where she covered racial politics and cannabis industry news.