Jailed American Paul Whelan seen in rare video at Russian penal colony
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Former US Marine Paul Whelan, who was detained and accused of espionage, during his verdict hearing in Moscow on June 15, 2020.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON - American Paul Whelan, a former marine jailed in Russia over espionage charges that the United States says are bogus, was seen in a rare video broadcast on Monday by a Kremlin-backed news channel.
Arrested in 2018, in Russia, he was convicted of spying charges in 2020 and sentenced to 16 years in a penal colony in Mordovia,
The Biden administration has designated Whelan as “wrongfully detained”, a legal term that means that charges are baseless and that he was targeted primarily because he is an American citizen.
Dressed in the prison’s black uniform and matching hat, Whelan appears in different parts of the prison with other inmates, using a sewing machine and at the cafeteria in the footage Russian state-controlled network Russia Today put out.
“Today was the first time I’ve seen what he really looks like since June 2020,” his brother David Whelan said in an e-mail.
He said Russia Today had showed up in the prison in May to film Whelan and when he declined to participate, the prison staff punished him. In the video, Whelan tells the questioner that he will not answer his questions.
The Biden administration has carried out two prisoner swops with Russia amid frosty bilateral ties due to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Whelan was part of neither.
In April 2022, Russia released former US marine Trevor Reed, who was convicted there in 2019, in exchange for Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko.
In a December 2022 prisoner swop with Russia,
In August, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to Whelan by phone. The administration has repeatedly said it is doing everything it can to bring him home.
Russia is also holding Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on spying charges that carry up to 20 years in prison. The American was arrested in end-March in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg.
Gershkovich, who has denied the charges, appealed last Saturday against the latest extension of his pre-trial detention in Moscow. REUTERS
