Former Marine Sentenced to 9 Years in Russia in Case Criticized as Political

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The police officers took Mr. Reed to the police station in their car, and Ms. Tsybulnik said she and her friends followed them throughout the journey. At the police station, Ms. Tsybulnik was advised to return the following morning to pick up Mr. Reed after he sobered up.

When she returned, she found Mr. Reed had been beaten up, she said, and one of the police officers demanded $1,000 to let him go. The officer denied the bribery allegation.

An hour later, several officers from the Russia’s Federal Security Service, or the F.S.B., arrived and without an interpreter or lawyer present, interviewed Mr. Reed, who had various forms of identification in his wallet confirming his status as a former member of the military.

“The fact that F.S.B. officers appeared means that they were interested in the detained person,” Mr. Pavlov, the lawyer, said. “They could have even followed him before.”

Mr. Reed was charged with endangering the lives of the police officers. The officers testified that during their trip to the station, Mr. Reed grabbed the driver’s arm, causing the car to swerve into the opposite lane. Mr. Reed, they said, elbowed one in the stomach.

CCTV footage presented in court did not appear to show the car swerve.

In September 2019, Mr. Reed’s father Joey, 60, a retired fire chief, flew to Moscow to help his son with the legal proceedings.

“We want our son home, I don’t care how,” Mr. Reed said in an interview.

For two months, Trevor Reed wasn’t allowed an interpreter, and was habitually denied medical treatment for his health conditions, his family said. For seven months, investigators didn’t allow family members see him, they said.



Source : Nytimes