Relatives of ex-Marine Robert Gilman feared he was dying in a Russian psychiatric ward. This week, he boarded a plane for home.

Russian authorities have released Robert Gilman, 32, a former U.S. Marine who had been serving a sentence at a penal colony in Voronezh. Vladimir Putin pardoned Gilman on humanitarian grounds, according to Reuters. Washington had called on Moscow on August 7 to free the American so he could receive treatment at home.