Article content
MOSCOW – A former US marine serving a nine-year jail sentence in Russia said he had ended a hunger strike after nearly a week after suffering health complications, according to a message shared by his family.
Article content
Trevor Reed, a Texas college student, was convicted last year of endangering the lives of two policemen in Moscow while they were drunk on a visit in 2019. He denies the charges and the United States called his trial a “theater of absurdity.” .
His family said last week that he had started a hunger strike to protest his imprisonment and alleged violations of his rights. The prison service denied that he refused to eat or that his rights were violated.
In the November 15 comments shared by his family late Tuesday, Reed said he ended the strike on the morning of November 9, having refused food and drunk only water since the night of November 3.
“They (the prison staff) were aware of my hunger strike. Every day they asked me on video if I wanted food and I refused. They did not weigh me or do a medical inspection, “he said.
Article content
The prison service did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reed said he had a cough, headache, congestion, mucus in his lungs and back pain, and that a doctor had given him vitamins.
He said he was to be transferred from his cell to a punishment cell on Monday, but did not say why.
A spokesman for the family said: “Trevor’s new complaints about his health are alarming and it is quite clear that the Russian authorities do not take them seriously. The Reeds continue to urge the (US) Administration to make a deal to take their son home. “
Reed and Paul Whelan, an American who was jailed in Russia on espionage charges he denied, have been touted as possible candidates for a prisoner swap between Moscow and Washington.
Reference-torontosun.com