Ex-US marine Paul Whelan is jailed for 16 years by a Russian court for stealing state secrets – as he holds up a sign saying ‘sham trial’ and ‘Paul’s life matters’
- Whelan, 50, has been in Russian custody since his arrest in December 2018
- He claims he was set up by a sting operation and plead not guilty to charges
- Whelan was caught with a flash drive containing classified information
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.
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
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.
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.’
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!’
‘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.’
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’.
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.’