Russia sentences American Michael Travis Leake to 13 years on alleged drug charges

A Russian court has sentenced the U.S. citizen Michael Travis Leake to 13 years in prison on drug charges, according to international media reports.

Moscow's Khamovnitchesky Court found the rock musician and former paratrooper guilty and ordered him to serve the sentence in a maximum-security prison colony, The Moscow Times reported last week.

Leake was arrested in June of last year on suspicion of selling the drug mephedrone, an offense that could have landed him a 20-year prison term.

Russia’s Interfax news agency said at the time that Leake was accused of organizing a drug trafficking business "involving young people."

Russian court officials have identified Leake as a former paratrooper with the U.S. military. Leake has also played in several Russian rock bands, including the Moscow-based group he fronted, Lovi Noch.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for a comment about the sentencing.

In a video of Leake that circulated after his arrest last year, he said he wasn’t admitting any guilt and didn’t know what he was being accused of.

Leake’s mother, Glenda Garcia, told CNN last year that she was troubled by her son’s situation. “Of course, I am worried. Of course, I am concerned, ” Garcia said. “He’s in prison in a foreign country, that is a concern.”

Also last week, a Russian court sentenced Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich to 16 years in prison on espionage charges, which he denies.

Wall Street Journal executives have called Gershkovich’s conviction a sham, and President Biden says the U.S. is pushing for the American reporter’s release.