Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
American to remain jailed in Moscow
MOSCOW — A Russian court ruled Friday that a former U.S. Marine accused of spying will stay jailed in Moscow for another three months.
Michigan resident Paul Whelan was arrested at a hotel in the Russian capital at the end of December. Whelan’s lawyer has said his client was handed a flash drive, and it had classified information he didn’t know about on it.
Masked men escorted Whelan into court, where the American spent the detention hearing behind the bars of a cell. Whelan has not been formally charged, and the Moscow court decided to keep him in pretrial custody.
A spying conviction in Russia carries a possible prison sentence of up to 20 years.
Whelan’s brother David said in a statement that he was not surprised by the ruling.
“There was never any question that the false charges against Paul would mean his ongoing isolation while the [Federal Security Service] continues its attempts to concoct evidence,” David Whelan said.
The Federal Security Service, the main successor to the Soviet Union’s KGB, revealed on Dec. 31 that its officers arrested Paul Whelan a few days earlier.
The action raised speculation that the Russian government was looking to swap him for a Russian held in the United States.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry rejected the idea of Whelan being part of a possible prisoner swap.