Article: Ex-Marine's Health Deteriorates in Russia
Ex-Marine's Health Deteriorates in Russia
PHOTO CAPTION: FILE PHOTO: Former U.S. Marine Robert Gilman, who serves a prison sentence for assaulting a Russian police officer in 2022, attends a court hearing in Voronezh, Russia April 6, 2026. REUTERS/Vladimir Lavrov/File Photo
WASHINGTON, Aug. 6 — A former U.S. Marine imprisoned in Russia since 2022 may be close to death after slipping into a stupor in June, according to his sister and two advocacy groups representing or tracking his case.
Robert Gilman, 32, is unable to communicate and is receiving food and fluids through a tube, said Eric Lebson, chief strategy officer of Global Reach, which represents Gilman’s family. The groups allege that Gilman was tortured and injected with mind-altering drugs while in Russian custody.
The White House and State Department have urged Moscow to release Gilman so he can receive urgent medical treatment in the United States, Lebson said.
A source familiar with the matter said State Department contacts indicated that Secretary of State Marco Rubio raised Gilman’s case with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a July 23 meeting in Manila. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said Lavrov’s response was unknown.
Gilman is among at least 10 Americans known to be imprisoned in Russia. His death could further complicate U.S.-Russian relations, already strained by the Iran and Ukraine wars and other disputes.
“I am more afraid for my brother than I have been since this horrible nightmare started,” Gilman’s sister, Lexie Hudson, said in a statement. “I’m worried that I may never see him again if the Russians don’t release him. I’m worried that he could die.”
A senior Trump administration official said the administration “is closely tracking Mr. Gilman’s case and has made repeated, concerted outreach to the Russians calling for his return to the United States.”
“We are deeply concerned about Robert Gilman’s health and continued detention,” the State Department said.
The Russian Embassy did not respond to requests for comment.
Family and U.S. officials denied hospital access
Gilman’s mother has been barred from visiting him in the Russian hospital despite having a judicial order allowing her to see him, Lebson said. U.S. consular officials had occasionally been permitted to visit Gilman in prison, but neither they nor his Russian lawyer have been allowed into the hospital, he added.
Gilman had been held in a prison in Voronezh, about 340 miles, or 547 kilometers, south of Moscow. In late June, he was transferred from the prison hospital to the psychiatric ward of a civilian emergency hospital in a catatonic-like condition assessed as a “dissociative stupor,” Lebson said.
The World Health Organization’s ICD-10 diagnostic classification system describes dissociative stupor as “a profound diminution or absence of voluntary movement and normal responsiveness to external stimuli.”
Gilman’s eyes remain closed, and his condition has prevented him from attending court hearings, Lebson said.
“It doesn’t seem like he’s getting the care he needs, and we are very concerned for his life and safety,” said Elizabeth Richards, director of hostage advocacy and research at the Foley Foundation, which has tracked the case.
A Russian newspaper reported July 9 that Gilman had been transferred to a hospital in Voronezh. It quoted his lawyer as saying it was too early to make a diagnosis.
Arrest and disputed prison allegations
Gilman served in the U.S. Marines from August 2019 until August 2020. He was traveling by train when he was arrested in Voronezh on Jan. 17, 2022, Lebson said.
Russian state media reported that Gilman was detained for allegedly kicking a police officer while intoxicated. His father, Vladimir Gilman, disputed that account in an Oct. 11, 2024, Boston Globe opinion article, saying his son had become ill and accidentally kicked the officer.
Vladimir Gilman said the officer was not injured, withdrew the charges and did not present evidence during his son’s trial.
Robert Gilman was sentenced to 4-1/2 years in prison. Russian state media reported that his sentence was extended in 2024 to 10 years after he allegedly assaulted prison staff.
Lebson and Richards denied that allegation. They said Gilman was held in extremely harsh conditions, tortured and injected with mind-altering drugs by guards, which they said led to his transfer to the civilian hospital.
Gilman’s family asked the State Department in March 2023 to designate him as wrongfully detained, a status that would make securing his release a top U.S. government priority, his father wrote. Reuters could not determine why the department has not granted that designation.
Lebson said Rubio has not designated any American imprisoned in Russia as wrongfully detained since Trump began his second term.
“We are seriously worried that we could see another situation like Otto Warmbier,” Lebson said, referring to the U.S. college student who was comatose when North Korea released him in June 2017 after 17 months in prison.
Warmbier died later that month in a U.S. hospital from severe brain damage of an unknown cause without regaining consciousness.
(Source: Reuters)
