WASHINGTON, Aug. 11 -- Before Russia released him on Monday, Robert Gilman had spent 47 days handcuffed to a hospital bed in a Russian penal facility, fed through an intravenous tube and given psychotropic medication. His advocates described his condition as near death. Prison staff called it a dissociative stupor.

Gilman, 32, a former United States Marine and English teacher from Gloucester, Massachusetts, was freed on August 11 after more than four years in Russian custody. The State Department confirmed his release was secured on humanitarian grounds, with no prisoner exchange and no concessions provided in return. Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a pardon on humanitarian grounds, according to reporting by the South China Mor...