The detained U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner has received an appeal hearing for her nine years sentencing in the Russian Jail for drug possession. The Moscow region court on Monday set the Phoenix Mercury star's appeal trial for October 25.
In February, the two-time Olympic gold medalist and WNBA champion came to Russia to play club basketball. Later, she was detained at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport for bringing vape cartridges with cannabis oil in Russia.
After the Russian court sentenced Griner for nine years in prison on August 4, one of her lawyers Maria Blagovolina filed an appeal on August 15 and told PEOPLE, " Brittney is stressed and very much concerned with the future. "
The 31-year-old WNBA star's another lawyer, Alexander Boykov believed that the process will take plenty of time after the beginning of the appeal on October 25. Boykov told PEOPLE, " It's not very fast. "
Meanwhile, two-time defending champions Team USA opened their FIBA women's World Cup 2022 campaign with a dominating win over Belgium on September 22 and kept the jersey no. 15 vacant to honor Brittney Griner . USA are placed in Group A alongside, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, Puerto Rico, and South Korea in the FIBA women's World Cup 2022.
Also, Griner's teammates and other WNBA stars are not considering to participate in Russia in the offseason instead opted to play for other European teams.
