American basketball player Brittney Griner’s appeal against her nine-year sentence to prison for drug offenses was denied by a Russian court.
The state prosecutor lauded the sentence as “fair” as the court near Moscow affirmed it.
The double Olympic winner apologised for her “honest mistake” in her appeal hearing via video link, saying it had been “very, very stressful”.
Griner, 32, was convicted in August of smuggling and possessing cannabis oil.
It was not immediately clear whether all legal routes had been exhausted.
The sportswoman’s lawyer, Alexander Boykov, said his team hoped that a prisoner exchange would be possible.
In August, the Kremlin posed the possibility of a prisoner swap between the US and Russia involving the basketball player.
