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October 27, 2024
Trevor Reed, American being held in Russia has been transferred without notice, family spokesperson says
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Trevor Reed, American being held in Russia has been transferred without notice, family spokesperson says

By Jason Diego / March 13, 2021

“On March 2nd, Trevor was taken by two urbane, English speaking FSB agents to a Court ordered evaluation. After that exam, he was inexplicably taken to a different pre-detention center without consular notification and has been held non-comm since in violation of Russia’s multilateral obligations,” spokesperson Jonathan Franks said.

“It is time for the Russian government to tell the truth about where Trevor Reed is now and where he has been since March 2nd and to afford the Embassy immediate, in-person and unfettered consular access to Trevor in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations to which the Russian Federation is a signatory,” Franks added.

Blinken speaks with families of US hostages and wrongful detainees

Franks told CNN the family’s understanding is he was transferred to SIZO 2, which includes Lefortovo Prison in Moscow.

A State Department spokesperson told CNN on Friday that “Embassy Moscow is aware of Trevor Reed’s whereabouts and has requested a phone call and an in-person meeting with him.”

CNN has reached out to the Russian embassy for comment.

A Russian court sentenced Reed to nine years in prison in July 2020 for endangering “life and health” of Russian police officers in an altercation. Reed, an ex-Marine, denies the charges and US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan called the trial “theater of the absurd.”

In a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing Wednesday, Secretary of State Tony Blinken said he was committed bringing Reed home and to raising the case with his Russian counterparts, which he said he did in his first call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

According to a readout of that early February call, Blinken “reiterated President Biden’s resolve to protect American citizens and act firmly in defense of U.S. interests in response to actions by Russia that harm us or our allies. This includes the release of Paul Whelan and Trevor Reed so that they are able to return home to their families in the United States.”

Whelan, another former Marine, has been detained in Russia since December 2018 and was was convicted of espionage and sentenced to 16 years in prison in June 2020. He has denied the spying charges.

Both the Reed and Whelan families — along with the loved ones of other Americans held hostage or unlawfully detained abroad — spoke with the top US diplomat in February.

Paula Reed, Trevor’s mother, told CNN at the time the call “just made my heart sing. I felt like a whole weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I felt heard. I felt cared for. And it was just, it was awesome to feel that way.”

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