Russia Transfers Ex-US Marine To Region With Tough Soviet-Era Prisons

Trevor Reed was convicted last year of endangering the lives of two policemen in Moscow while drunk, a charge he denied.

A former US Marine who is serving a nine-year sentence in Russia was being transferred from a remand cell in Moscow on Friday to the Mordovia region which has a large number of tough, Soviet-era prisons. Trevor Reed was convicted last year of endangering the lives of two policemen in Moscow while drunk, a charge he denied. He said the ruling was "clearly political", and Washington called the trial "theatre of the absurd". Reed had remained in a remand cell after his conviction pending an appeal. That appeal was rejected and his sentence was upheld at a court hearing last month. "This morning Trevor Reed was (taken) from Moscow, he will serve his punishment in one of Mordovia's (prison) colonies," Alexei Melnikov, a member of a prison oversight commission was quoted as saying by the RIA news agency.