Freed American's Cellmates Describe Years of Beatings and Stun Gun Abuse in Russian Jails

A 74-year-old retired English teacher has spent the last four and a half years behind bars in Russia.

Stephen Hubbard was released on October 23, 2026, the same day US special envoy Steve Witkoff met President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg.

Trump stated in a phone call the previous week that he asked Putin to free the American.

Two Ukrainians who shared a facility with Hubbard describe a period of sustained physical and psychological abuse.

Dmytro Khyliuk, a journalist, met Hubbard at Novozybkov prison in Bryansk in September 2022.

Khyliuk said guards sought out the American during inspections, using obscene language and threats from the start.

Ihor Shyshko, a captured soldier, confirmed that Hubbard's nationality drew immediate attention from officers.

Shyshko said Hubbard was forced to learn Russian, sing the national anthem, and recite rules he could not read.

He witnessed guards strike Hubbard on the legs, back, and arms, and shock him with a stun gun.

Shyshko added that Hubbard was denied food and medical care, left in the cold, and subjected to sexual humiliation for staff amusement.

Hubbard was captured in April 2022 in Izyum, where he lived with his Ukrainian partner.

Russian authorities accused him of serving in Ukraine's armed forces and sentenced him to six years and ten months in a Moscow trial in 2022, a verdict he awaited in custody with the two Ukrainians for months before his transfer to Pakino prison in 2024, where Khyliuk claimed he was hidden from International Red Cross visitors to conceal his deteriorating condition, a move the ICRC said it investigates whenever granted access, while Khyliuk noted he assumed Hubbard was released in 2024 after he vanished from the facility, a timeline that aligns with Khyliuk's own return to Ukraine in August 2025 via a prisoner exchange, where he described the system as a torture machine akin to the Stalin era, while Shyshko noted Hubbard's knees and feet were riddled with rot at Pakino, requiring bandaging by Shyshko after a doctor refused, a diet of porridge, bread, and potatoes, and daily routines of beatings and stress positions, including a handler setting a dog on prisoners, all occurring while Hubbard's health declined in cells with broken windows and bitter cold, a stark contrast to the warmth sought by huddling detainees in the bathroom, a pattern that supports the family's claims of torture, as Witkoff called Putin a humanitarian and Khyliuk called the timing shameful PR for a president losing congressional votes, with Shyshko hoping perpetrators face justice.