Former Marine Trevor Reed, standing in a Russian court on Tuesday with a rib injury, had his appeal denied, leaving his fate to be determined by a lower court as he remains in prison for a third year. Reed was arrested in 2019 and sentenced to nine years in prison in 2020 for allegedly assaulting two police officers, a charge U.S. officials categorized as false and solely an attempt at political retribution. “Unfortunately, the justice that Trevor deserves has been denied,” U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan said, according to CNN. “His appeal was not decided today, the proceedings continue, and Trevor remains in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.” Reed launched a hunger strike last month to protest solitary confinement, and his family and Sullivan worried he was not being treated for tuberculosis. His public defender also said after the hearing that Reed suffered a rib injury, forcing him to be transferred to a prison hospital. He is one of three U.S. citizens known to be detained in the authoritarian country alongside Paul Whelan and WNBA player Brittney Griner.