Trevor Reed, a former U.S. Marine who was serving 9 years in a Russian penal colony has been launched as a part of a prisoner trade, in line with reviews.
The Russian international ministry stated on Wednesday that "on account of a prolonged negotiation course of," Reed had been exchanged for Russian citizen Konstantin Yaroshenko, the Russian state information company Tass reported.
The U.S. agreed to return Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot serving a 20-year sentence in Connecticut for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the U.S. after he was arrested in Liberia in 2010 and extradited to the U.S.
Reed, from Texas, was arrested in 2019 after Russian authorities stated he assaulted an officer whereas being pushed by police to a police station. His household maintained his innocence and the U.S. stated he had been unjustly detained.
His dad and mom Joey and Paula Reed, advised Newsweek in March that their son's well being had been deteriorating and that they feared they'd by no means see him once more.
"At present our prayers have been answered and Trevor is safely on his manner again to the USA," Reed's household stated in a press release to Newsweek.
Reed, 30, from Hood County, Texas, had confronted deteriorating well being on the IK-12 penal colony within the Kostroma area, round 200 miles east of Moscow.
He went on a starvation strike in November 2021 to protest his conviction and the circumstances he was residing underneath in jail. Fears for his life grew after he contracted tuberculosis for which his household stated he acquired insufficient medical therapy.
His dad and mom appealed on to President Joe Biden after waving to his motorcade whereas holding an indication about their son whereas Biden was visiting Fort Price, Virginia in March.
"At the beginning, we might prefer to thank President Biden for his kindness, his consideration, and for making the choice to deliver Trevor dwelling," the couple's assertion stated, "the president's motion might have saved Trevor's life."
"We might respectfully ask for some privateness whereas we handle the myriad of well being points introduced on by the squalid circumstances he was subjected to in his Russian gulag," the household added.
A senior U.S. official advised the Related Press that Reed's case had been of the "utmost precedence" for the Biden administration and that Yaroshenko, whose sentence has now been commuted, had already served the vast majority of his sentence.
"It was a troublesome determination however one which we thought was price it," the official stated.
Officers wouldn't reveal the place the prisoners have been swapped, though the AP cited flight trackers figuring out a Russian federal safety service (FSB) airplane as flying to Ankara, Turkey.
The Reed household assertion additionally referred to the case of Paul Whelan, one other former Marine sentenced to a Russian jail. He confronted espionage fees and was convicted in 2020 after what he stated was a "sham trial."
"Lastly, we stand proudly with the Whelan household and all the opposite households of wrongfully detained People who're nonetheless ready for their very own launch second," the assertion added.
Different People held by Russia embody WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was arrested in February after authorities stated a search of her bag revealed a hashish spinoff.
Replace 4/27/22 9:00 a.m. ET: This story has been up to date with further data.
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