WEBVTT

00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:05.349
it's completely a political 10 minutes for this was that

00:00:07.290 --> 00:00:14.759
they didn't ask me anything about that time. The

00:00:14.759 --> 00:00:17.730
Fsb had arrived because someone had seen on his visa

00:00:17.730 --> 00:00:19.660
application had been a U. S. Marine.

00:00:19.739 --> 00:00:22.269
And they interrogated him for a couple of hours about

00:00:22.269 --> 00:00:24.670
his Marine corps history. And after they left,

00:00:24.670 --> 00:00:28.579
they charged him with assaulting police officers. Before that

00:00:28.589 --> 00:00:30.469
he was not guarded, he was not handcuffed,

00:00:30.469 --> 00:00:32.759
he was sitting in the lobby with women and Children

00:00:32.770 --> 00:00:35.729
. And after the FsB came, he was public

00:00:35.729 --> 00:00:38.490
enemy number one. Um and then after his first

00:00:38.490 --> 00:00:41.130
appeal was denied, he was then shipped off on

00:00:41.130 --> 00:00:44.369
the prison train to the Republic of Mordovia to what

00:00:44.369 --> 00:00:47.060
we call a gulag. It's an old Stalin prison

00:00:47.140 --> 00:00:50.090
in the forest where the temperatures are right now.

00:00:50.090 --> 00:00:53.109
I think 10 and 20 below zero. Uh He's

00:00:53.109 --> 00:00:55.770
refusing to work in a labor camp. So they

00:00:55.770 --> 00:00:58.840
placed him in solitary confinement most of the last seven

00:00:58.840 --> 00:01:00.630
months, half of that time. He was in

00:01:00.630 --> 00:01:03.619
a very small room alone uh with a hole in

00:01:03.619 --> 00:01:06.730
the floor for a toilet, water faucet that has

00:01:06.739 --> 00:01:10.239
untreated water bed that folds down off the wall with

00:01:10.250 --> 00:01:12.409
chains and metal frame. And Trevor had written some

00:01:12.409 --> 00:01:17.590
complaints about his living conditions and his exposure to TB

00:01:17.590 --> 00:01:19.099
. He was going to give them to his attorney

00:01:19.109 --> 00:01:21.280
. But for whatever reason. This time they didn't

00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:23.760
let him, they confiscated all his paperwork and we'll

00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:25.459
let him give him to the attorney, which they

00:01:25.459 --> 00:01:27.219
have not done before. And the attorney said he'd

00:01:27.219 --> 00:01:30.489
never seen that before. So that was very unusual

00:01:30.489 --> 00:01:34.129
and we're just kind of concerned about that, leave

00:01:34.129 --> 00:01:38.890
me alone, local conditions prohibits the, you can

00:01:38.890 --> 00:01:42.230
see the truth. You know, I'd say it

00:01:42.230 --> 00:01:45.709
wasn't really singled out because there is another former marine

00:01:45.719 --> 00:01:48.540
that was arrested eight months before our sun and charged

00:01:48.540 --> 00:01:51.170
as being a spy, which is completely bogus.

00:01:51.180 --> 00:01:53.079
But we believe it has to do with them being

00:01:53.079 --> 00:01:56.829
marines. And apparently the Russian government doesn't like United

00:01:56.829 --> 00:01:57.819
States Marines. But I again, I would advise

00:01:57.819 --> 00:02:00.890
all americans not to go there, especially former military

00:02:00.890 --> 00:02:04.579
personnel to us citizens, paul, Whelan and Trevor

00:02:04.579 --> 00:02:08.370
reed who were tourists in Russia were arrested, convicted

00:02:08.370 --> 00:02:12.469
without credible evidence. And we again ask Russia to

00:02:12.469 --> 00:02:14.789
do the right thing and uh, let them come

00:02:14.789 --> 00:02:21.870
home. So we did tell them that we didn't

00:02:21.870 --> 00:02:23.379
think that it was a bad deal to make to

00:02:23.379 --> 00:02:23.500
, to trade those two guys. And then a

00:02:23.500 --> 00:02:25.509
lot of people think that there are terrorists or whatever

00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:28.840
. And as his parents, obviously, I would

00:02:28.840 --> 00:02:30.280
say it's a good trade do it. And then

00:02:30.280 --> 00:02:34.039
we also emphasize that if they're going to make this

00:02:34.039 --> 00:02:38.129
trade and eventually it gets done, then why wait

00:02:38.139 --> 00:02:38.840
, just go ahead and do it now. And

00:02:38.849 --> 00:02:42.310
you ask what their answer was to us and they

00:02:42.310 --> 00:02:43.949
didn't give us an answer like, okay, yes

00:02:43.949 --> 00:02:46.180
, we, they just told us that they're considering

00:02:46.189 --> 00:02:47.830
everything we're concerned, you know, if war breaks

00:02:47.830 --> 00:02:52.689
out in Ukraine that whatever channels might be used right

00:02:52.689 --> 00:02:55.270
now to discuss his release or some sort of exchange

00:02:55.270 --> 00:02:59.259
of prisoners that that might, you know, collapse

00:02:59.340 --> 00:03:00.460
. And then there's also the if we're at odds

00:03:00.460 --> 00:03:04.330
with Russia with giant sanctions and things of that nature

00:03:04.330 --> 00:03:05.960
, you know, they could tack on more false

00:03:05.960 --> 00:03:07.270
charges, you know, against Trevor and Paul,

00:03:07.270 --> 00:03:10.289
which is pretty much standard for the FsB, and

00:03:10.289 --> 00:03:12.490
, you know, Trevor could be there forever.

00:03:12.490 --> 00:03:13.650
He could die there in prison.