Russian prosecutors demand nearly 10 years in jail for US ex-marine
Suspect from Texas accused of attacking police officers; case attracting attention due to speculation about prisoner swap
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Russian prosecutors on Wednesday asked for a sentence of nearly 10 years in a penal colony for a former US marine accused of attacking police officers.
Trevor Reed, a 28-year-old student and former Marine from Texas, allegedly attacked police while drunk after attending a party last year.
He is accused of grabbing one policeman while being driven to a police station and elbowing another.
A spokeswoman for Moscow’s Golovinsky district court told AFP that prosecutors asked the judge to impose a sentence of 9 years and 8 months, close to the maximum possible sentence of 10 years.
The verdict will be announced Thursday.
Reed has been held in a Moscow prison in pre-trial detention since August 2019. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge, saying he remembers nothing of the incident.
“Based on the evidence in my case, I think it’s clear what the outcome should be,” Trevor Reed told RFE/RL from the defendant’s cage. https://t.co/7q2M4udLtC
— Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (@RFERL) July 28, 2020
His defense team has pointed to discrepancies in the evidence given by the police officers.
The case has attracted attention owing to the lengthy sentence faced by a US citizen and speculation in Russian and US media that Reed could become part of a prisoner swap.
In June, Russia convicted US citizen Paul Whelan, also an ex-Marine, to 16 years in a penal colony on an espionage charge, also prompting speculation that he could participate in a prisoner swap.
Whelan’s brother David said in a statement on Wednesday that “our family is not privy to government discussions, if there are any, about Paul’s case.”
The Times of Israel Community.