State Department spokesman Ned Price on Monday called again for former Marine Trevor Reed to be released from a Russian prison, citing concerns about Reed’s health.
Reed was detained in 2019 for allegedly assaulting a police officer and received a nine-year prison sentence.
Officials and Reed’s parents have been fighting for his release while the U.S. has called the detention was unjust.
The family’s spokesperson on Monday said that Reed is in a prison hospital with symptoms of tuberculosis and has rapidly lost weight.
“We are concerned by reports that Trevor Reed’s health is deteriorating. We continue to call on Russian officials to provide adequate medical care immediately, or otherwise to release him to the United States to receive the care that he needs,” Price said.
The statement from Joey and Paula Reed, Trevor Reed’s parents, says Trevor Reed weighed in at 136 pounds in the prison hospital. They said he weighed 160 pounds when he left for Russia.
The parents called on the Biden administration to act urgently so their son does not die or end up with life-altering injuries.
“As you know, there is no higher priority within this building, within this administration than the safety, the security, the well-being, the welfare of Americans around the world; and that certainly includes Americans who are detained around the world, including those Americans who are wrongfully detained, which is the case with Trevor Reed,” Price said.
“We will continue doing everything we can to see to it that Trevor Reed and all of those unjustly held around the world are reunited with their families,” he added.
Reed’s parents met with President Biden last week after they protested outside the White House for the administration to do more for their son.
“During their meeting, the President reiterated his commitment to continue to work to secure the release of Trevor, Paul Whelan, and other Americans wrongfully held in Russia and elsewhere, and to provide all possible assistance until they and others are free and returned home to their families who are advocating so passionately for their release,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.