Russia sentences ex-US Marine to 16 years in jail for espionage
A court in Russia has sentenced a former US Marine to 16 years in prison after finding him guilty of spying for the United States.
Paul Whelan was handed down the sentence by a court in the Russian capital Moscow on Monday.
Whelan — who holds US, UK, Canadian, and Irish citizenships — was arrested by agents from Russia’s Federal Security Service in a hotel in Moscow in December 2018. He was accused of obtaining state secrets on a flash drive.
He has claimed he was framed by an acquaintance.
US ‘outraged’
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement after the sentencing on Monday that Washington was “outraged.”
“The United States is outraged by the decision of a Russian court today to convict US citizen Paul Whelan after a secret trial, with secret evidence, and without appropriate allowances for defense witnesses,” Pompeo said.
US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan also criticized the trial of Whelan as “a mockery of justice” that would harm relations between the two countries.
Whelan’s lawyer, Vladimir Zherebenkov, said he would appeal the verdict.
UK ‘deeply disappointed’
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab also said he was deeply disappointed by Whelan’s verdict.
“We will continue to provide consular support to him and his family, and press the Russian authorities to respect Paul’s basic rights, which include a fair trial and appeal process,” Raab said in a statement on Monday.
During the sentencing hearing, Whelan held up a piece of paper on which a note criticized the proceedings as a “sham trial” and urged US President Donald Trump and the leaders of Britain, Canada, and Ireland to take “decisive action.”
Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Monday stressed that the 16-year prison sentence was neither unfair nor too harsh and that such behavior as his would have been punished by a longer sentence in the US.
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