Lawyers appeal against Brittney Griner’s Russian prison sentence

US basketball player Brittney Griner in a courtroom outside Moscow (Evgenia Novozhenina/Pool/AP)

Lawyers for US basketball star Brittney Griner on Monday filed an appeal against her nine-year prison sentence for drugs possession, Russian news agencies reported.

Griner, a centre for the Phoenix Mercury and a two-time Olympic gold medallist, was convicted on August 4.