Former US Marine sentenced to prison in Russia says his case is ‘fabricated’

MADRID, 12 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –

Trevor Reed, a former United States Marine sentenced to prison in Russia in July 2020 for assaulting a police officer, said Tuesday that his case is “fabricated” and that he does not trust the court that is handling it.

A Russian court is studying an appeal from Reed on Tuesday. During the hearing, in which Reed participated electronically and was also attended by the United States ambassador to Russia, John Sullivan, the former Marine asserted that “he does not trust any” court and that he has “very personal reasons” for this, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.

Reed, a 29-year-old former Marine, was sentenced in July 2020 to nine years in prison by a Moscow court for assaulting a Russian police officer. His family has denied the charges and US authorities have called the evidence against him flimsy.

Reed is not the only one. Paul Whelan, who also holds a Canadian and British passport, was detained in December 2018 at a Moscow hotel by Federal Security Service agents. According to Russian intelligence, he was found on an external memory device containing classified information. He has been sentenced in mid-2020 to 16 years in prison for a crime of espionage.

The latest most notorious case has been that of the professional basketball player Brittney Griner, arrested since mid-February accused of drug possession.