US presses Russia to free jailed ex-Marine Robert Gilman as health worsens
What's new: Gilman is in a psychiatric ward in Voronezh, being tube-fed, and his family says he may be near death.
The United States is urging Russia to release former Marine Robert Gilman after his family and advocacy groups said his condition has sharply deteriorated in custody. Gilman, 32, has been held in Russia since 2022 and is now in the psychiatric ward of a civilian hospital in Voronezh after falling into what advocates described as a dissociative stupor in late June. Eric Lebson of Global Reach said Gilman has been unable to communicate, is being fed through a tube and has not been allowed visits from his mother, despite a court order. The State Department said it had repeatedly raised his case with Moscow and requested his release on humanitarian grounds. His sister, Lexie Hudson, said she fears he could die in Russian custody.