Family of Ex-Marine in Russian Prison Announce He's Going on Hunger Strike

By Amanda Thomason November 9, 2021 at 5:00pm

The family of former Marine Trevor Reed has not heard from him in nearly four months.

Trevor Reed, a Texas native, was arrested in 2019 after allegedly becoming blackout drunk and assaulting two Russian police officers. The following year, Reed was tried and given a sentence of nine years in prison.

Reed’s family maintains that Reed did not do what he was accused of and that the charges were leveled at him so that he could be used as leverage.

The U.S. embassy in Moscow also finds the whole thing suspicious, reporting that the officers involved contradicted themselves and seemed unable to remember details from the alleged attack, according to KABC-TV.

In June, the family hoped for some good news after President Joe Biden met with Vladimir Putin. While Biden said the cases of Reed and another prisoner and U.S. citizen, Paul Whelan, were brought up, nothing has seemed to result from the interaction.

The Reed family also says that the 30-year-old is currently at a labor camp in the Mordovia region, where he has been kept in solitary confinement for three months, and the most recent news is that he’s gone on a hunger strike.

The ex-Marine’s Russian girlfriend reported that his hunger strike started on Nov. 4, and his family later confirmed the news, saying that he’s taken this tack after “his arbitrary detention and Russian authorities’ numerous and flagrant violations of his basic human rights and his rights under Russian law,” according to ABC News.

The Reeds also voiced their hope that their son’s hunger strike will draw the attention of the government and reignite the possibility of a prisoner trade. However, Ned Price, spokesman for the State Department, said only that they were aware of the situation.

After hearing about the conditions their son is being kept in and learning that he contracted COVID earlier this year and required hospitalization, according to the New York Post, Trevor’s parents are deeply concerned about their son’s well-being.

“While we are immensely proud of our son’s strength of character,” they said in a statement on Monday, “we are also extremely worried about his health.”

Mom Paula Reed’s most recent endeavor is to get at least 1,000 people to send messages on Veteran’s Day to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in an effort to persuade them to continue pursuing his return home.

“HELP WANTED FOR TREVOR!!” Paula posted on Facebook Nov. 4. “WE NEED 1000 FRIENDS TO HELP US LET OUR GOVERNMENT KNOW THAT WE WANT TREVOR TO COME HOME ASAP!

“I AM BEGGING, THAT YOU CONTACT PRESIDENT BIDEN AND VP HARRIS ON THIS UPCOMING VETERANS’ DAY. I WILL POST DETAILS OF METHOD AND RECOMMENDED LANGUAGE TO USE HERE ON SATURDAY.

“WE ARE HOPING THAT A CONCERTED, WELL-TIMED BARRAGE OF MESSAGES ABOUT TREVOR TO THEIR IN BOXES WILL BE IMPACTFUL.”

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