US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (local time) announced that Robert Gilman, an American military veteran who had been imprisoned in Russia for more than four years, is coming home after he has been freed on humanitarian grounds.
32-year-old Gilman, a Massachusetts teacher and former Marine, who was imprisoned in Russia in 2022, was freed after Trump said he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin about his release.
What Trump said
“We appreciate this decision, and the fact that Russia asked for no one in return — No exchange took place,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Gilman will arrive at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland outside of Washington on Tuesday evening, Trump said in his post.
“I just spoke to him, and he had one request — A GREAT cheeseburger when he lands,” Trump wrote. “I will take care of that!”
Gilman is bound for a military hospital in Texas, where he will be medically and psychologically assessed and treated, Eric Lebson, chief strategy officer of Global Reach, an NGO that advocates for and assists families of Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad, said in a statement.
What happened to Robert Gilman?
Gilman was arrested in Voronezh, Russia, on 17 January 2022. According to his family, Gilman had fallen ill while travelling through the country to explore a teaching opportunity in Moldova. Russian authorities accused him of assaulting a police officer while intoxicated on a train, a charge his family vehemently denied, saying the kick was accidental due to his illness.
Wrongfully detained: US
He was initially convicted and sentenced to 3.5 years in jail, but his prison term was extended three times, including on charges of attacking a prison inspector during a cell check, beating an investigator and assaulting a guard.
Russian media reported that he pleaded guilty to the charges and apologized to the guards he was charged with assaulting.
Gilman’s father disputed the charges against his son, while the State Department said the US determined that Gilman was wrongfully detained.
Assaulted in custody
According to his family, while in custody, Gilman was subjected to physical torture and severe mental abuse. In 2024, his health critically deteriorated to a "dire and life-threatening" state. He was hospitalized in a catatonic "dissociative stupor," requiring tube-feeding.
Gilman’s lawyer Irina Brazhnikova told the Russian news agency Interfax on Friday that Gilman was in a psychiatric ward of a civilian hospital, where he’s been since early July.
He was there “due to a psychiatric condition,” and according to doctors, his condition has worsened, but neither his lawyers nor his family were allowed to visit, she said.
Before Gilman was flown out of Russia, he had been in “a dissociative stupor” for 47 days due to the abuse he had suffered in prison, according to Lebson. After Gilman was moved to the hospital, he was hooked up to a feeding tube and handcuffed to a bed.
Hospital reports conveyed Gilman’s condition “as dire and life-threatening,” pushing the US government into action and leading to his release, Lebson said.
(With inputs from agencies)
