Freed Marine veteran Robert Gilman is back in the United States, returning with a visibly frail frame that his family and US officials say reflects the severe mistreatment that left him “near-death” after years inside a harsh Russian prison.
Gilman, 32, was welcomed with milkshakes and hamburgers after landing late Tuesday at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, DC. His arrival came just hours after President Trump said the US had obtained a pardon for him from Russian President Vladimir Putin, without the release being tied to a larger prisoner exchange.
On the flight home, Gilman appeared pale and worn down as he posed with an American flag, marking his first journey back to freedom after his imprisonment in Russia.
Following the brief stop at Dulles, Gilman was flown to San Antonio, where he was expected to receive medical and psychological treatment at Brooke Army Medical Center, according to WOAI-TV.
A US official who spoke with Gilman gave Reuters an early account of his condition following the dramatic return.
The official, speaking anonymously, said Gilman was able to walk and speak and had been assessed during the flight by a team of four doctors.
“All things considered, he seems to be in good shape,” the official said.
Gilman, a retired Marine and teacher from Massachusetts, had grown increasingly sick before his release and was confined for weeks in a psychiatric ward while in what officials described as a “dissociative stupor.”
He was initially convicted and sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison for drunkenly kicking a police officer, although his family maintains he was sick and did not mean to assault the cop.
Russian authorities later accused Gilman of attacking prison officials and guards, resulting in additional convictions and extensions of his sentence, which had increased to 10 years by December.
Gilman’s sister, Lexie Hudson, accused Russian authorities of abusing her brother while he was in jail.
“The Russians treated my brother so badly,” she said. “They hurt him for no reason, other than that he was both an American and a Marine.”
Gilman’s health rapidly deteriorated in the weeks before his release, leaving him in a “near-death condition,” according to Mass. Sen. Ed Markey, who also worked to free Gilman.
Irina Brazhnikova, Gilman’s Russian attorney, told the Interfax news agency that Gilman had been hospitalized in the psych ward of a civilian hospital since early July because of a psychiatric condition.
She said doctors reported that his condition had worsened and that neither his attorneys nor his family had been allowed to visit him.
Eric Lebson, a chief strategy officer for Global Reach, an organization that worked to free Gilman, said he suffered a “dissociative stupor” for 47 days due to the abuse.
Markey accused Russian authorities of subjecting Gilman to physical torture, forced medication and provocations during his imprisonment.
Gilman was returned to the US without a broader prisoner swap on a “Humanitarian Basis,” Trump posted on X.
With Post Wires
