WASHINGTON — Russia released American citizen and former U.S. Marine Robert Gilman on Tuesday after more than four years of imprisonment on disputed charges.
The State Department said Gilman, 32, was released on humanitarian grounds and had recently been designated as wrongfully detained. His release “was not part of an exchange, and no other concessions were provided,” the department said.
U.S. officials told reporters that Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a humanitarian pardon following negotiations between the two governments.
Gilman departed Russia aboard a State Department aircraft accompanied by his mother. Four doctors were evaluating him during the flight, according to Reuters, and an official who spoke with him said he was walking and talking. He is expected to receive medical and psychological treatment at a military facility in Texas.
Russian authorities arrested Gilman in Voronezh in January 2022 after accusing him of kicking a police officer while being removed from a train. His family disputes Russia’s account, saying Gilman was ill and made accidental contact with the officer.
Russian courts later convicted him of additional alleged assaults on prison and law-enforcement officials, eventually extending his sentence to 10 years.
Gilman’s family and advocates said his health deteriorated sharply during his imprisonment. They reported that he spent approximately 47 days in a “dissociative stupor,” suffered severe pneumonia and required a feeding tube while handcuffed to a hospital bed.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) welcomed Gilman’s release but said it was long overdue, alleging that he had endured physical torture, forced medication and deliberate provocations in Russian custody.
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What took so damn Long??