An American accused of engaging in a fight with a Russian police officer was sentenced to spend four and a half years behind bars there.
The Voronezh Central District Court handed down the sentence for Robert Gilman, 28, on Tuesday. He reiterated his innocence before the trial, and his defense team said after the sentence that it will appeal it and seek a prison swap to get him back to the United States.
RUSSIAN COURT SET GRINER APPEAL FOR LATER THIS MONTH
“The court finds Gilman absolutely guilty. … Gilman realized that he threatened the well-being of a public authority. … [I hereby decree] to find [the defendant] guilty and impose a penalty of four years and six months at a medium-security prison,” a judge said, according to Russian state media Tass.
His attorney Valery Ivannikov told reporters, “We will appeal, we will ask the appellate court to reduce the punishment, [to make it] much less than the current sentence. … It has already been agreed that we will address the authorities of the United States of America in order to initiate an exchange process so that he can return home.”
Gilman, on Jan. 17, was taken to a police precinct after being pulled off a Sukhumi-Moscow train for disturbing the peace while intoxicated. He allegedly kicked a police officer in the shin at least twice while in custody, which resulted in criminal charges of attacking a police officer.
The State Department did not respond to a request for comment as to whether it views Gilman as “wrongfully detained,” a specific case designation that determines who oversees his case and whether the U.S. will exhaust its resources to ensure his return.
The U.S. views both WNBA player Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, both of whom have been found guilty in Russian court, as wrongfully detained by the Russian government.
The basketball superstar, who was convicted on Aug. 4 after pleading guilty to drug charges for bringing vape cartridges in her luggage through a Moscow airport, will be back in court on Oct. 25 for her appeal. During the trial, she admitted to bringing the cartridges, though she said it was an accident. She was sentenced to nine years in prison, close to the maximum 10-year sentence for the charge.
Whelan is serving a 16-year prison sentence on espionage-related charges that he and his family vehemently deny.
Facing growing public pressure to get Griner back, the department said in July that the administration had made a “substantial proposal” to get them home. Gilman’s name has not been mentioned in connection with a possible swap.
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While the administration has declined to provide specifics of the offer, it’s been widely reported that it included the release of convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout, who has been dubbed the “Merchant of Death” for allegedly selling arms to sanctioned human rights abusers in various African nations. Russia has also sought the inclusion of Vadim Krasikov, a former colonel from the country’s domestic spy agency who was convicted of murdering a former Chechen fighter in Germany in 2019 and sentenced to life in prison, in a possible prisoner exchange, according to CNN.
National Security Council coordinator John Kirby told reporters in mid-September that Russia has “not responded to our offer,” which was described as a “serious” one.
