Russia has released a US war veteran who spent more than four years in inhumane conditions on disputed charges and was said to be seriously ill and at risk of dying, an organization defending him said today, quoted by the Associated Press, BTA reported.
Former Marine Robert Gilman is on his way to a US military hospital in Texas, where he will undergo a medical and psychological examination and receive treatment, said Eric Lebson, director of strategic development for the human rights organization "Global Reach", which is working to free him and other American prisoners abroad.
Gilman's family has flown to Texas to be with him, including his mother, who was in Russia, trying to see him in the hospital.
Gilman, a 32-year-old teacher, was arrested in 2022 and initially sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison after being found guilty of assaulting a police officer after he was pulled off a train for disorderly conduct. He was later convicted of assaulting a prison inspector during a cell check, assaulting an investigator and a guard, and was sentenced to eight years and one month in October 2024. His sentence was extended last year to 10 years after he was found guilty of assaulting prison guards.
Before being flown out of Russia, he had been in a "dissociative stupor" for 47 days due to the abuse he had suffered in prison, Lebson said. Gilman was transferred from prison to civilian hospital, where he was fed through a tube and handcuffed to a bed.
Hospital reports described Gilman's condition as "critical and life-threatening," prompting the U.S. government to take action and leading to a "unilateral humanitarian release" by Russian authorities, Lebson said.
U.S. Senator Edward Markey called on Russia and the United States to work together to secure the release of the American, a Massachusetts resident.
Gilman was one of at least eight U.S. citizens still in Russian custody after a series of high-profile prisoner swaps between Moscow and Washington in recent years, the AP reported.