A Russian court found ex-U.S. marine Paul Whelan guilty of spying for the United States on Monday and sentenced him to 16 years in jail after a closed trial which U.S. diplomats said was unfair and opaque.
Whelan, who holds U.S., British, Canadian and Irish passports, has been in custody since he was detained by agents from Russia´s Federal Security Service in a Moscow hotel room on December 28, 2018.
Moscow says Whelan, 50, was caught red-handed with a computer flash drive containing classified information.
Whelan, who pleaded not guilty, said he was set up in a sting and had thought the drive, given to him by a Russian acquaintance, contained holiday photos.
Pictured: ex-U.S. marine Paul Whelan, who has been found guilty of spying on Russia for the United States, holds a sign as he stands inside a defendants’ cage during his verdict hearing in Moscow, Russia June 15, 2020
Pictured: Whelan stands in a glass box at the trial holding a sign that reads ‘Sham Trial! Meatball Surgery! No Human Rights! Paul’s Life Matters! Decisive Action from POTUS and PMs needed! Happy Birthday Flora!’ Flora is reportedly Whelan’s dog.
Pictures of the trial showed Whelan standing in a glass box, holding a sign that read ‘Sham Trial! Meatball Surgery! No Human Rights! Paul’s Life Matters! Decisive Action from POTUS and PMs needed! Happy Birthday Flora!’ Flora is reportedly Whelan’s dog.
After the sentance was announced, Mr. Whelan said ‘This is all a political theater,’ and added that he did not understand the proceedings as they were conducted entirely in Russia.
John Sullivan, US Ambassador to Russia, called the verdict a ‘mockery of justice’ stating that the embassy ‘had not seen evidence’ of the case against Whelan.
The embassy also tweeted after the trial, quoting Sullivan saying: ‘Fair and transparent? No. Evidence produced? No. The world is watching.’
U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan is interviewed by members of the media outside the verdict hearing of former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who was detained and accused of espionage, in Moscow, Russia June 15, 2020
‘We had hoped that the court might show some independence but, in the end, Russian judges are political, not legal, entities,’ said David Whelan, Paul Whelan’s twin brother, in a statement following the verdict.
‘We understand that Paul’s lawyers may appeal this decision within the next two weeks. We hope that, in their continued search for justice for Paul, that the appeal is successful. But Russians do not expect justice from their legal system, and neither do we.’
Speaking to WXYZ Detroit before the trial, David said he was also worrying about his Brother’s health.
Two Russian security officers were pictured in balaclavas guarding Paul Whelan as he attended his sentencing in Moscow on June 15, 2020
Whelan continued to hold up the sign calling the trial a sham, pressing it to the glass so that the security officers could read it
In May, Whelan had emergency hernia surgery, and could also have to contend with the risk of Covid-19 in jail. He added: ‘The sad part of that is, that if he gets an 18-year sentence, my parents will be dead by then. Flora, the dog that he has loved, will be dead by then.’
David said that he hopes that now his brother has been convicted, they can open discussions about his release. Russian officials only discuss prisoner release once the person has been convicted.
In June 2019, Whelan publicly declared himself the victim of ‘an absurd political kidnapping’ and appealed to President Trump to help him and to ‘keep America great’ by taking steps to secure his release.
‘Mr. President, we cannot keep America great unless we aggressively protect and defend American citizens wherever they are in the world,’ he said. He also called the legal processes he experienced as the ‘Moscow goat rodeo’.
Pictured: An image of Paul Whelan, a former US marine who was arrested for alleged spying in Moscow, is displayed behind Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as he speaks during a news conference at the State Department in Washington, DC on June 10, 2020 ahead of the start of the trial
U.S. diplomats have described the case as a ‘significant obstacle’ to improving already poor bilateral ties and have repeatedly said there is no evidence against him and asked Russia to release him.
State prosecutors, who accused Whelan of being at least a ranking U.S. military intelligence colonel, had asked the court to sentence Whelan to 18 years in a maximum security prison.
The trial was largely closed to the public, with Vladimir A. Zherebenkov, Whelan’s lawyer saying that the Russian prosecution had little evidence to support their case, according to the New York Times.
‘Paul knew dozens of people in Russia, not a single one of them said that he tried to recruit them,’ Zherebenkov said in a telephone interview with The Times before the sentence was announced. ‘We believe this was a provocation.’