A Moscow court declined on Tuesday to rule on an appeal from a jailed former US marine, who is seeking to overturn a nine-year sentence for an attack on two Russian police officers which he denies.
Trevor Reed, 30, from Texas, is serving out his term after being convicted in 2019 of endangering the lives of two police officers while drunk on a visit to Moscow. The United States has called his trial a "theater of the absurd."
Moscow's Second Cassation court said Reed's appeal against his conviction would be sent first to a lower court so he could familiarize himself with the case materials, the TASS news agency reported, citing court spokeswoman Dinara Muslimova.
The case will be sent back to the cassation court once he has done this, TASS cited Muslimova as saying.
"Very disappointed that justice has again been denied," US Ambassador to Moscow John Sullivan said on Tuesday.
"His appeal was not decided today, the proceedings continue, and Trevor remains in jail for a crime he didn't commit."
Reed's parents said in March he had gone on hunger strike to protest against being put in solitary confinement, and he had not been receiving proper medical care despite fears that he had tuberculosis.
Russian news agencies reported last Monday that Reed had ended the hunger strike and was being treated in his prison's medical center.