Moscow
A Russian court convicted former US marine Paul Whelan of spying for the United States on Monday and sentenced him to 16 years in jail, a move the US ambassador to Moscow called a violation of human rights that would damage ties.
Whelan, who holds US, British, Canadian and Irish passports, was detained by agents from Russia’s Federal Security Service in a Moscow hotel room on Dec 28, 2018 as he prepared to attend a wedding.
Russia says Whelan, 50, was caught with a computer flash drive containing classified information. Whelan, who pleaded not guilty, said he was set up in a sting operation and had thought the drive, given to him by a Russian acquaintance, contained holiday photos.
This is all political theatre,’ said Whelan, who watched proceedings from a glass box inside the Moscow city courtroom.
He told the judge he had not understood the verdict as proceedings were conducted in Russian without translation.
Whelan had held up a piece of paper on which he denounced the proceedings as a ‘sham trial’ and asked for US President Donald Trump and the leaders of Britain, Canada and Ireland to take ‘decisive action.’
Whelan’s lawyer, Vladimir Zherebenkov, said an appeal would be made against the verdict and, questioning the court’s independence, Whelan’s family said in a statement ‘Russian judges are political not legal entities’.
John Sullivan, US Ambassador to Russia, told reporters that no evidence had been produced to prove Whelan’s guilt and demanded his immediate release.—Agencies
