On October 7th, a 72-year-old American was sentenced to six years and ten months in prison by a Russian court for being a Ukrainian mercenary, a reason that has been questioned by his family.
Investigators in Russia stated that Stephen James Hubbard, a resident of Michigan, had been living in Izyum, a city in eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia, since 2014. During this time, he received a monthly salary of $1,000 for his service in the local defense forces.
According to the investigators, Hubbard signed a contract to become a Ukrainian mercenary in February 2022 and received training, weapons, and ammunition.
Last month, the Russian state news agency RIA quoted prosecutors saying that on April 2, 2022, the day after Russia took control of Izyum, Hubbard was detained by Russian soldiers.
The trial was held behind closed doors. A Reuters reporter present at the scene observed Hubbard struggling to stand when the judge delivered the verdict. While his lawyer declined to comment to reporters, RIA reported that Hubbard’s lawyer would appeal the verdict.
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow confirmed awareness of an American citizen being detained but declined further comment.
Russian state media reported that Hubbard had pleaded guilty to the charges. However, in a recent interview, his sister Patricia Hubbard Fox and another relative expressed doubt about his confession, noting his pro-Russian views and unlikely willingness to take up arms at his age.
Fox described Hubbard as a solitary individual who had been teaching English overseas for decades, leading to a estrangement from some family members.
Fox mentioned that Hubbard moved to Ukraine in 2014, lived with a Ukrainian woman, and relied on a meager monthly pension of about $300. She stated that he never learned Russian or Ukrainian, and had minimal contact with locals.
In another court in southern Moscow, American citizen and former Marine Robert Gilman was sentenced to seven years and one month in prison. Prosecutors accused him of assaulting a prison officer and a national investigator during his incarceration.
Gilman, who is 30 years old, was previously sentenced to three and a half years in prison in October 2022 for assaulting police officers while intoxicated.
He is currently detained in Voronezh, about 300 miles south of Moscow. Prosecutors said he attacked a prison staff member and a national investigator in the fall of 2023.
Gilman’s lawyer had previously told TASS news agency that he had come to Russia to study and gain citizenship, and that he had admitted to all the charges.
RIA cited Gilman’s statement in court last week, in which he claimed he resorted to violence because a prison inspector caused him genital pain and an investigator insulted his father.
Apart from Hubbard and Gilman, at least nine other American citizens are imprisoned in Russia, with some notable cases being:
Ksenia Karelina, who holds dual Russian and American citizenship, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in August for donating over $50 to a New York charity supporting Ukraine, a charge deemed treasonous by a Russian court.
Marc Fogel, a teacher and former employee of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2021 for carrying 17 grams of marijuana in his luggage at a Moscow airport. The 63-year-old Fogel claimed he used the drugs for medical reasons.
Gordon Black, an active-duty U.S. military serviceman stationed in South Korea, was detained in Russia’s Far East region in May for allegedly stealing money from his Russian girlfriend. He was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison.
Daniel Joseph Schneider was sentenced to six years in prison in September for attempting to leave Russia with his four-year-old son without the mother’s permission.
David Barnes was sentenced to 21 years in prison by a Russian court in February for abusing his two sons in the United States amid a custody dispute with his Russian ex-wife. U.S. investigators found no basis for the charges against him.
(The article is based on reports from Reuters.)