FREE TRAVIS LEAKE. Boilerplate, current as of September 30, 2026 (Day 1,213).

SHORT
Michael "Travis" Leake, an American citizen and U.S. Air Force veteran from Bakersfield, California, has been held in Russia since June 6, 2023. He is serving 13 years at IK-6, a penal colony in Vladimir Oblast. His advocates have asked the State Department to designate him wrongfully detained. It has not. He was never a paratrooper.

LONG
Michael "Travis" Leake, an American citizen and U.S. Air Force veteran, has been held in Russia since June 6, 2023. Today is Day 1,213. Moscow's Khamovnichesky District Court sentenced him to 13 years on July 18, 2024. He is held at IK-6, a penal colony in Melekhovo, Vladimir Oblast. His advocates have asked the State Department to designate him wrongfully detained. It has not. A black iPhone seized in the search of his apartment appears in no later evidence record in the 690-page court file, and no fingerprint or DNA test of anything seized appears in it either. He served in the Air Force in 1989-90 as a heating-and-air-conditioning mechanic in Arizona, never in combat, and never as a paratrooper.

HOW TO DESCRIBE HIM
American citizen; U.S. Air Force veteran; musician and English teacher; held at IK-6, Melekhovo; sentenced to 13 years by Moscow's Khamovnichesky District Court on July 18, 2024.
Do not use: paratrooper; combat or Iraq veteran; proven drug dealer; officially designated.

SERVICE RECORD
U.S. Air Force, 1989-90, 832d Civil Engineering Squadron, Arizona, heating-and-air-conditioning mechanic. Never a paratrooper. Never in combat.

PHOTO CREDIT
Courtesy of the Leake family / Free Travis Leake campaign. Captions in photo-captions.txt.

VIDEO
Recorded over the summer of 2026 at IK-6. Running time 3:18. Free to air with credit: Free Travis Leake campaign.

CONTACT
jonathan@lucidpublicrelations.com
Text, Signal, WhatsApp: +1 310 713 4351
