73-year-old US citizen tortured in Russian prison
A 73-year-old U.S. national, Stephen James Hubbard, is being held in a Russian prison and was repeatedly tortured because of his citizenship, The New York Times reported on June 10, citing returning Ukrainian POWs who were imprisoned alongside him.
Ukrainian prisoners told the journalists that Russian captors beat Hubbard, forced him to stand all day, and gave him little food and poor medical treatment. They expressed deep concern for his life.
Documents obtained by the newspaper indicate that Hubbard is being held at penal colony IK-12 in Mordovia, southwestern Russia.
Working as an English teacher, Hubbard had been living in Ukraine’s Izyum, Kharkiv Oblast, until Russian forces abducted him while Izyum was under occupation in 2022. In October 2024, a Russian court sentenced him to six years and 10 months in prison on charges of “serving as a mercenary in Ukraine.” His relatives dispute the charge, and U.S. officials have described his detention as “illegal.”
The U.S. State Department had previously included Hubbard in the list of nine U.S. citizens held in Russia that the United States wants returned.
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