Prosecutor in Griner case tells Russian appeal court her 9-year term is fair

KRASNOGORSK, Russia (Reuters) – U.S. WNBA basketball star Brittney Griner on Tuesday heard the Russian state prosecutor in her appeal hearing tell the judges that her nine-year jail sentence for possession and smuggling of drugs was “fair”.

Three judges were presiding over the appeals court in Krasnogorsk near Moscow, while Griner was taking part via video link from a detention centre in the town of Novoye Grishino, just outside Moscow.

Wearing a black and red lumberjack shirt over a black hooded top, Griner listened to a live translation of the proceedings from behind the white bars of her cell.

(Reporting by Filipp Lebedev and Olesya Astakhova; Writing by Kevin Liffey; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)