2024-10-05 09:14:57
The prosecutor’s office today requested nine years and one month in prison for Robert Gilman, a former US marine detained in Russia. He is already serving a sentence for a drunken attack on a police officer, Reuters reported, citing local media.
The court in the city of Voronezh will announce the verdict on October 7. On October 22, 2022, Gilman was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for the attack. The sentence was subsequently reduced by one year.
According to TASS, on January 17, 2022, Gilman was taken to the police station in Voronezh after he broke the order in a passenger train while drunk. In the office, he kicked a police officer twice. An administrative case was also brought against him for petty hooliganism and violation of the residence regime in Russia, for which he was fined and detained for five days in administrative detention. After his release, he was arrested in a criminal case for violence against a police officer.
The new trial is related to a separate alleged assault on an investigator and a prison officer.
Gilman, whose lawyers previously said he came to Russia for training and citizenship, pleaded guilty to all charges, according to local media. According to RIA Novosti, he told the court that he was forced to resort to violence after the prison officer hit him on the genitals and after the interrogator insulted his father.
TASS notes that the new charges against Gilman were brought under articles of the Criminal Code, for “disorganization of the activities of institutions, ensuring isolation from society” and “threat or violent actions in connection with the administration of justice or preliminary investigation.”
Gilman is one of at least 10 American citizens in Russian prisons after Russia and the West arranged an August 1 swap of 24 prisoners from the two countries, including three Americans.
In a separate trial, a verdict is expected on Monday in the case of 72-year-old American Steven Hubbard, who is accused in Russia of being a mercenary in Ukraine, BTA writes.