A judge at the Khimki City Court near Moscow handed down the verdict on Thursday
American basketball player Brittney Griner has been sentenced to nine years in prison after being found guilty in her drug trial in a court just outside Moscow.
The sentence is only slightly more lenient than that demanded by prosecutors earlier Thursday, after they sought a nine-and-a-half-year sentence for Griner.
Additionally, the presiding judge ordered Griner to pay a fine of 1 million Russian rubles ($16,200) in connection with the case, after she was found guilty of attempting to smuggle illegal narcotics into the country.
Griner’s legal team immediately said it would appeal the conviction, according to information from the Khimki City Court.
Griner had claimed in her defense that the hash oil vape cartridges found in her luggage at Sheremetyevo airport on February 17 ended up there unintentionally, after she hadtily packed.
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