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Russia has released a former U.S. Marine after holding him in prison for more than four years. President Trump says that Robert Gilman was freed on humanitarian grounds. His supporters say he was near death, in a catatonic state and needs medical attention. NPR's Michele Keleman has the story.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: President Trump announced Gilman's return, saying it came after discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump says Russia asked for no one in return. The 32-year-old looked sickly in the photograph posted online. Trump says he talked to Gilman, whose one request was for a cheeseburger. The Massachusetts man will be treated in a medical facility in Texas. He needs a lot of support, says Senator Ed Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, who says Gilman was tortured and forcibly medicated in Russia.
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ED MARKEY: It is a tragedy that it took Robert's near-death condition for this case to receive the attention which it required.
KELEMEN: The State Department only recently declared that he was being unjustly detained. A Russian businessman close to the Kremlin, Kirill Dmitriev, called it a humanitarian release, but did not comment on the U.S. allegations of mistreatment. According to his supporters, Gilman was transiting through Russia in 2022, on his way to Moldova to teach English, and he fell ill on a train.
KIERAN RAMSEY: When the Russian police come upon him, they think he's drunk, and they claim he assaults them when, in fact, the opposite was true.
KELEMEN: That's Kieran Ramsey, a former FBI official now the chief investigator for Global Reach, a nonprofit organization which advocated for Gilman's release. He says Gilman suffered a lot in Russia.
RAMSEY: With ridiculous pressure tactics, like being told, the only way you're going to get out of this is if you volunteer to fight for the Russian army against Ukraine. You can imagine the conditions in a Russian gulag these days, especially being an American. He went through a living hell.
KELEMEN: The Trump administration says it will continue to work for the release of all Americans unjustly detained in Russia, including Stephen Hubbard, who's in his 70s and was captured in Ukraine. Senator Markey says the U.S. needs to hold Russia to account for its treatment of American detainees.
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MARKEY: We cannot reduce the pressure that we apply on the Russians. There are other Americans there.
KELEMEN: Global Reach is working on five other cases in Russia.
Michele Keleman, NPR News, the State Department.
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