WNBA star Brittney Griner’s nine-year prison sentence was upheld on Tuesday during a Moscow regional court hearing.

The Phoenix Mercury center and her legal team had hoped for an acquittal or reduction in the sentence that they believed was too severe and politically motivated.

“No judge, hand on heart, will honestly say that Griner’s nine-year sentence is in line with Russian criminal law,” Alexander Boykov, one of Griner’s lawyers, said according to Reuters.

He added, “if the court wants to punish her, [it should] give her a new, ‘fair’ verdict and mitigate the punishment. The severity and cruelty of the sentence applied to Griner shocks people around the world.”

Griner’s arrest occurred just four days before Russia invaded Ukraine in February. She has now been held for eight months. The 6-foot, 9-inch center was sentenced in August, receiving just under the ten-year maximum sentence.