MOSCOW — An American who spent three years behind bars in Russia earlier than being launched in a prisoner trade has been convicted in absentia for combating as a mercenary in Ukraine, Russia’s Investigative Committee mentioned Wednesday.
The committee, Russia’s major legal investigation authority, mentioned in an announcement that Trevor Reed was sentenced by a Russian court docket to 14-and-a-half years in jail.
Reed was injured within the combating in jap Ukraine in 2023 and handled in Germany. His whereabouts on the time of the sentencing weren’t instantly recognized.
Reed, a former Marine, was arrested in Moscow in 2019 for allegedly assaulting a police officer whereas closely intoxicated. Russian authorities claimed he had grabbed the steering wheel of the police automobile taking him to a so-called “drunk tank.”
Nonetheless, police didn’t produce video proof from the automobile’s digicam and Reed’s girlfriend, who was following in a separate automotive, mentioned she didn’t see the automobile swerve. The then-U.S. ambassador, John Sullivan, mentioned the proof towards Reed within the trial was so preposterous that “even the choose laughed.”
Reed was sentenced to 9 years in jail. He was launched in April 2022 in trade for Russian drug smuggler Konstantin Yaroshenko.
He reportedly joined the Ukraine army as a international fighter in November 2022.
The announcement of Reed’s conviction got here two days after a Moscow court docket convicted 72-year-old American Stephen Hubbard of combating in Ukraine as a mercenary and sentenced him to almost seven years. Hubbard was captured by Russia about two months after the February 2022 begin of full-scale combating in Ukraine.
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