Brittney Griner's Appeal Trial Set to Begin October 25 in Russian Court

Natasha Dye
·2 min read
US' Women's National Basketball Association (NBA) basketball player Brittney Griner, who was detained at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport and later charged with illegal possession of cannabis, arrives to a hearing at the Khimki Court, outside Moscow on August 4, 2022. - Lawyers for US basketball star Brittney Griner, who is standing trial in Russia on drug charges, said on July 26, 2022 they hoped she would receive a "lenient" sentence.

KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty

An appeal hearing for detained WNBA star Brittney Griner has been set for October 25, according to the Associated Press.

Griner, who will turn 32 one week before her appeal hearing, was sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison on August 4.

Per the AP, the Moscow region court will hear Griner's appeal.

She has been waiting for information regarding the appeal process since her lawyers officially filed an appeal on Aug. 15. In September, Griner's lawyer Maria Blagovolina told PEOPLE that the Phoenix Mercury star has been "stressed" during the process.

"Brittney is stressed and very much concerned with the future," Blagovolina, a partner at Rybalkin Gortsunyan Dyakin and Partners, said.

WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner holds images standing in a cage in a courtroom prior to a hearing at the Khimki City Court outside Moscow, Russia, 27 July 2022. Griner, a World Champion player of the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury team was arrested in February at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport after some hash oil was detected and found in her luggage, for which she now could face a prison sentence of up to ten years. US basketball player Brittney Griner attends hearing on drug charges, Moscow, Russian Federation - 27 Jul 2022

ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Brittney Griner

RELATED: A Timeline of Brittney Griner's Detainment in Russia

Once the appeal begins on Oct. 25, the process will take several months, another of Griner's lawyers, Alexander Boykov, from the Moscow Legal Center, told PEOPLE. "It's not very fast."

Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison on Aug. 4 on charges of smuggling drugs into the country, just below the maximum sentence of 10 years. After the trial, Blagovolina had said the sentence was "absolutely unreasonable."

There is also still hope that Griner will be part of a prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Russia. In July, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the Biden administration said that they are in discussions with Russia to swap the WNBA star and Paul Whelan, another American imprisoned in the country, for a not-yet-named Russian prisoner held in the U.S.

RELATED VIDEO: Brittney Griner Is 'Stressed' in Russian Prison as She Awaits the Start of Her Appeal Hearings

When Griner heard about the potential exchange, she was "quite happy to know that she's not been forgotten and that there are some possible developments," Blagovolina previously told PEOPLE. "But she's quite realistic about what's going on."

RELATED: Inside the Russian Penal Colony Where Brittney Griner Will Serve Her 9-Year Prison Sentence

During closing arguments in her trial, Griner had given an emotional speech, reiterating her stance that though she pled guilty to bringing less than 1 gram of cannabis oil into Russia, she did so "inadvertently" and asked the court for leniency.

"That's why I pled guilty to my charges. I understand everything that's been said against me, the charges that are against me and that is why I pled guilty but I had no intents to break any Russian laws," Griner said, according to CNN.

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