Ex-U.S. Marine held in Russia starts hunger strike over treatment, family says

FILE PHOTO: Former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed, who was detained in 2019 and accused of assaulting police officers, stands inside a defendants' cage during a court hearing in Moscow, Russia July 30, 2020. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed, who is serving a nine-year jail sentence in Russia, has started a hunger strike to protest against his incarceration and violations of his rights, his family said.

Reed was convicted last year on charges 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 his trial a "theatre of the absurd".