U.S. basketball star Griner urges Russian court to reduce her sentence, apologises

U.S. basketball player Brittney Griner appears on a screen via video link from the detention centre during a court hearing to consider an appeal against her prison sentence, in Krasnogorsk, Moscow Region, Russia October 25, 2022. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina

KRASNOGORSK, Russia (Reuters) - U.S. WNBA basketball star Brittney Griner on Tuesday urged Russian appeal judges to reduce her nine-year jail sentence for possession and smuggling of drugs in the form of cannabis oil used in vapes.

Griner was permitted to make a final statement by live video link from her detention centre in the town of Novoye Grishino, just outside Moscow, to the judges at the appeal court in Krasnogorsk near the capital.