A Russian court has turned down an appeal by basketball player Brittney Griner, who was sentenced to nine years in prison for drug charges.
The state prosecutor said the sentence was fair.
The double Olympic winner apologized for her "honest mistake" in her appeal hearing.
He was found guilty of having cannabis oil.
The lawyer for the sportswoman told the court that no judge would honestly say that the nine-year sentence was in line with Russian criminal law.
The White House didn't like the legal proceedings.
Jake Sullivan, a US national security advisor, said that President Joe Biden had called for her release and that she was being wrongly imprisoned.
The sentence was called excessive and disproportionate by a top US diplomat.
The sports star was in a town near Moscow where she was being held.
She told the court that she hoped the court would adjust the sentence because it had been very difficult.
She said that people with more severe crimes have received less than they were given.
He will be in a colony.
One of the world's top players was arrested at an airport near Moscow when cannabis oil was found in her luggage.
She came to Russia to play basketball.
Her case has become a subject of high-profile diplomacy between the US and Russia after Russia invaded Ukraine.
The idea of a prisoner swap between the US and Russia was floated in August.
According to reports in the US, the Merchant of Death could be transferred to the Russian authorities as part of the deal.
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