The household of Trevor Reed, a former U.S. Marine serving a nine-year jail sentence in Russia, warned Monday that he might quickly die in jail if President Joe Biden’s administration would not intrude.
Reed’s dad and mom, Joey and Paula Reed, have repeatedly accused Russian jail officers of mistreating him throughout his imprisonment. Last week, the household introduced that Reed had begun a starvation strike in protest of being positioned in solitary confinement and never receiving satisfactory medical care after he was reportedly uncovered to tuberculosis.
On Monday, Reed’s household once more accused Russia of failing to offer their son with medical therapy and urged the Biden administration to “act with urgency” to assist him.
“Our son continues to experience symptoms consistent with active tuberculosis. As a result of his hunger strike, Trevor lost seven pounds in five days, his health continues to deteriorate by the day, and we remain terrified that Trevor will become the next Otto Warmbier if the Administration doesn’t act urgently to bring him home,” Reed’s dad and mom stated in a press release shared with Newsweek. Otto Warmbier was a 22-year-old American scholar who died in 2017 after being imprisoned in North Korea.
In their assertion, Reed’s dad and mom added that untreated tuberculosis has a mortality fee as excessive as 70 p.c, and stated their son has misplaced a major quantity of weight since being detained. The household stated that Reed was first uncovered to an inmate with energetic tuberculosis in December.
“When we dropped our then 28-year-old off at the airport before he left for Russia, he was in excellent health and weighed about 160 pounds. Recently, at the prison ‘hospital’ he weighed 136 pounds,” his dad and mom stated. “We urge the Administration to act with urgency. Our son is out of time.”
Reed, a 30-year-old from Texas, was sentenced in July 2020 after he was convicted of assaulting two cops whereas drunk in Moscow throughout an August 2019 incident. Reed and his household have denied the costs towards him, claiming they have been unfairly motivated by Russian-U.S. politics.
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Reed’s dad and mom beforehand advised Newsweek that they worry they’ll by no means see their son once more attributable to souring relations between the U.S. and Russia amid the continuing struggle in Ukraine.
“The United States just isn’t negotiating with Russia and that’s our problem. They could have traded for our son and possibly Paul Whelan years ago and they have completely blown that,” Joey Reed advised Newsweek late final month.
Russia has denied claims that Reed is being mistreated. The Federal Penitentiary Service stated in a press release this week that “On Friday, April 1, the convict Reed ended his hunger strike and began to receive food. On the same day, at his request, he was sent to the medical facility,” in keeping with Reuters.
Russian jail officers have denied that Reed was ever uncovered to, or examined optimistic, for tuberculosis.
In response, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price stated Monday that the Biden administration had seen the assertion from Russia, and that it stays involved for Reed’s well being, Reuters reported.
“We continue to call on Russian officials to provide adequate medical care immediately or otherwise to release him to the United States to receive the care that he needs,” Price stated.