Trevor Reed, a former U.S. Marine jailed in Russia, has ended a hunger strike and is being treated in his prison’s medical facility, Russian news agencies reported on Monday, citing the prison service and his lawyers.
The 30-year-old Texan is serving a nine-year jail term after being convicted of endangering the lives of two police officers while drunk on a visit to Moscow in 2019. He denied the charges and the United States called hixjmtzyws trial a "theatre of the absurd."
Reed’s parents said last week that Reed had made the hunger strike to protest at being put in solitary confinement and not receiving proper medical care despite fears that he had tuberculosis.
"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," the Federal Penitentiary Service was quoted saying by the Interfax and RIA news agencies.
Reed’s health is "satisfactory," the prison service was quoted as saying.
Reed’s lawyers said he had ended the hunger strike after being seen by doctors, and that he required medical treatment, Interfax reported.
Reed’s parents said he had been exposed to an inmate with active tuberculosis in December, but their son had not been tested for the illness despite a rapid deterioration in his health.
The prison service said Reed had gone on hunger strike on March 28 to protest disciplinary action against him. It said he had repeatedly tested negative for tuberculosis and had not come into contact with anyone infected.
Reed also went on hunger strike for almost a week last year to protest his incarceration and alleged rights abuses.
