How a family and nonprofit worked to released a former Marine imprisoned in Russia

This is 90.9 WBUR in Boston. I'm Lisa Mullins. A Lowell man held in a Russian prison for the past four years is now free. 32-year-old Robert Gilman was believed to have been held in abusive conditions and was gravely ill. A U.S.-based nonprofit that works to secure the release of Americans held abroad has been helping Gilman's family. It's called Global Reach. Kieran Ramsey is the chief investigative officer. Kieran, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. So you've been following this case for quite some time now until this weekend. A lot of us didn't know who Robert Gilman was. Tell us about him. We know that he's a Marine veteran. He was in Russia, not as a Marine, not in service, but as a tourist. What happened? This is four years ago. Correct. So let's start with the fact that Robert's from Lowell Mass. He went to high school there. His family lives in Dracott. He's a former Marine, so he's not been in the Marines quite some time now. And he's a teacher. He's an international teacher who was never supposed to even visit Russia. He was actually en route to a teaching job in Moldova when this whole saga started. And what happened? Well, he was gravely ill as he was transiting Moscow, and he ended up having to convalesce there. He luckily has some extended family, so he did that. But then he went to go to the U.S. Embassy to renew his passport, Moscow, became violently ill again. Police officers in Russia came upon him and thought he was drunk. And he ended up being assaulted, essentially. But they turned it around and said he assaulted them. And so they kept him in prison. How do you know what the conditions he was held in were? So we had been receiving reports through the embassy, through his family, a very harsh physical abuse, of even mental abuse. Is there any reason why the Russians would want to hold him? Did they, for instance, get anything in exchange for releasing him, anything from the United States? This was a straight-up humanitarian release on the part of the Russian government, for which the family is very thankful. You know, the situation, though, is unfortunately Russia generally has a long history of engaging in what's called hostage diplomacy, where they will target Americans. They will specifically target U.S. Marines. Ultimately, though, it was Robert's precarious health situation. that enabled the U.S. government to act with a sense of urgency, to have the White House themselves engaged directly with the Russians and secure his humanitarian release to get him home today. And who on this side of things got him released? So the credit goes to the administration from the president to the secretary of state to special envoy Steve Witkoff. Even the CIA director played a role in engaging the Russians and securing his release under these humanitarian grounds. The family is exceptionally grateful for Senator Ed Markey's role in rallying the cause in Congress to make Mr. Gilman's case a top priority and for all of the things he's tried to do to engage the administration.

administration and to publicly speak out that we could not see Robert Gilman perish in a wrongful detention setting in a Russian prison. Let me just ask you this. There have been other American prisoners in Russia released during the time that Gilman has been held. Why is that the case? Why was this not a priority, apparently, until he became gravely ill? Well, unfortunately, we are all at the mercy of the Russian government when it comes to Americans who are being held wrongfully. There are still 10 Americans, upwards of 10. But in the end, it's engaging with the Russian government and their decision. President Trump posted on social media that Gilman will arrive at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland outside Washington tonight. He will then move on to Texas. The image that the president showed that he posted showed family surrounding Mr. Gilman and he was wearing an American flag apparently to keep warm. What can you tell us he can't walk, I guess, at least not right now. He can speak. What more can you tell us about his condition? So his life was certainly in jeopardy. At present time, his full medical assessment is yet to be done, and it can't be done until he gets to Brook Army Medical Center in San Antonio. But he does have State Department doctors onboard that plane with him, as well as his mom. And we've heard reports that he has difficulty walking, but he is now able to verbally be responsive, which is admittedly an improvement that we were looking at from last week where he was being fed through a tube and non-responsive. Karen Ramsey is chief investigative officer of the organization called Global Reach. Thank you very much. I know it's a good day for you and for the family of Robert Gilman and Robert himself. Thank you. Thank you. And again, 32-year-old Robert Gilman is returning to the United States this evening after being held in a Russian prison for the past four years.