Marine veteran Robert Gilman was released from Russian custody on humanitarian grounds Tuesday after 1,666 days behind bars, ending a long detention that his family says left him in a catatonic state. The U.S. citizen’s release came through an exchange with Russia, according to the State Department, which said no other concessions were part of the deal.
Gilman was arrested in Voronezh, Russia, on Jan. 17, 2022, and later received a total sentence of 10 years in prison. Family representative Kieran Ramsey said Gilman’s troubles began months earlier, when he was traveling toward Moldova, became severely ill, and had to stop in Moscow. Ramsey said Gilman later went to a relative’s home to recover and then tried to renew his passport at the U.S. embassy in January 2022, but fell ill again on the way. He said Russian police approached him, believed he was drunk, claimed he assaulted them and then arrested him. His detention, Ramsey said, quickly escalated into something far worse.
According to Ramsey, Gilman was subjected to harsh treatment while in custody and deteriorated badly. He said the veteran was fed through a tube and that the family feared he might already be dead or might not survive. Ramsey also said the Russians would not allow Gilman’s mother to visit him, and not even embassy staff were allowed access. Gilman was moved out of prison and into a civilian hospital in Voronezh on June 30.
Ramsey said Gilman’s full medical assessment will take place once he is back in the United States, where his family plans to join him at a U.S. military hospital in Texas. He said the process ahead will be a long recovery, not a quick return to normal life. The case has become another stark reminder of the risks faced by Americans detained abroad, especially when health problems and prison conditions collide.
