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Stephen James Hubbard left America behind decades ago, first for Japan, then Cyprus and finally Ukraine. He didn’t like the government – any government, really.
He was a wanderer, growing up in a small town in Michigan and traveling the world before ending up alone in the eastern Ukrainian town of Izium when the Russians invaded on Feb. 24, 2022.
Now Mr. Hubbard, a retired English teacher who turns 73 on Thursday, has become an unlikely pawn in an international war. The Russians arrested him shortly after invading and accused him of fighting for Ukraine. They moved him to at least five different Russian detention centers before putting him on trial on a charge of being a mercenary.
In October, a Moscow court convicted him and sentenced him to almost seven years in a penal colony.
His case has remained mostly under the radar. But last month the State Department said Mr. Hubbard was “wrongfully detained” – elevating his case and indicating that the United States believes that the charges are fabricated.
A State Department spokesman said he never should have been taken captive or moved to a Russian prison.
Mr. Hubbard’s sister and three former Ukrainian prisoners of war held with Mr. Hubbard dispute that he fought for Ukraine. The former prisoners say they believe he will die if he is not freed. They say he endured the same torture they did: repeatedly beaten, terrorized by dogs, forced to stand all day, every day, even stripped naked for more than a month.
In late July 2022, Mr. Hubbard was transferred, Mr. Stratulat recalled.
A captured Ukrainian special forces officer with the call sign of Hacker met Mr. Hubbard in the Stary Oskol prison in Belgorod, about 80 miles northeast of the detention camp, in early September. After an interrogation that was more like torture, Hacker said, he was taken to a cell with Mr. Hubbard, who gave him water and prayed for him.
When he was freed, he wanted to tell someone about the American he had met.
In 2023, Mr. Hubbard was moved to a prison in Pakino, about 170 miles east of Moscow, where he shared a cell with Mr. Shyshko and 13 other men, Mr. Shyshko said.
There, prisoners were interrogated, often tortured, shocked with electricity, beaten and burned, Hacker and Mr. Shyshko said.
After the Russians found scabies on prisoners, they were all stripped and taken to a cold basement, where they were forced to walk naked in circles wearing only slippers for a month and a half, Mr. Shyshko said.
Mr. Shyshko said the doctor told him “the scabies mite can’t reproduce in the cold, it’ll die along with you.”
Lunch was often boiled water with a few cabbage leaves; dinner, leftovers from Russian inmates, blended together. Mr. Shyshko’s weight dropped to less than 130 pounds from about 240.
“Stephen, though, he never gave in,” Mr. Shyshko said. “He kept telling us: ‘These people aren’t human. Don’t lose hope.’ He stood up to them and encouraged us to hold on.”
One day, Mr. Hubbard said he thought his sister might be looking for him.
His case has remained mostly under the radar. But last month the State Department said Mr. Hubbard was “wrongfully detained” – elevating his case and indicating that the United States believes that the charges are fabricated.
Early last October, Mr. Hubbard – bent over, his hair and beard roughly chopped, his glasses gone – was sentenced to six years and 10 months in a prison colony.
Ms. Hubbard Fox said she hoped President Trump could deal with the Russians. “He’s a doer, and they know that he’s not going to put up with their crap,” Ms. Hubbard Fox said.
She said that seeing her brother beaten with a sandal reminded her of seeing him abused as a child. She plans to sell her home in Colorado and buy one in Oklahoma, so her brother can live with her when he gets out.
“I love my home, but my brother’s lost everything,” she said. “So I’m doing this. I’m going to provide him a home.”
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