"Revenge for sanctions." American detained in Russia complains of lawlessness

Former US Marine Paul Whelan, who at the end of last year detained in Moscow on espionage charges, called his arrest a lawless abduction for political reasons, writes BBC Russian Service.

Фото: Depositphotos

“This is retaliation for sanctions, there is absolutely no credibility in the case,” Whelan said at the trial.

Whelan, who in addition to American citizenship also had British, Canadian and Irish citizenship, was detained by the FSB on December 28 “during an espionage action.”

As the BBC's Sarah Rainsford reports, "Whelan told the judge he wanted to complain about his investigator from the Russian FSB security service, claiming that 'his actions, insults, harassment and threats to life are unprofessional and should not be tolerated.'

As the correspondent of the BBC, Whelan was angry and did not hide it. According to him, he is constantly subjected to violence and humiliation.

Paul Whelan statement in court — he calls this spy case a political kidnap, punishment for sanctions vs Russia pic.twitter.com/WszuagoPGf

- Sarah Rainsford (@sarahrainsford) May 24, 2019

“I haven’t showered in two weeks, I have to cut my own hair, I don’t have access to medical or dental care,” Whelan said. “I have not received the books that were sent to me two months ago, I am not receiving letters, nothing is being delivered, everything is being held, this is a typical technique for isolating prisoners of war.”

The representative of the American embassy expressed concern for Whelan and said that in the five months that the American was in custody, no evidence of his guilt had been submitted, and he should be allowed to go home.

In court were representatives of the embassies of the United States, Ireland and the United Kingdom.

The judge granted the prosecutor's request to hold a closed hearing due to the fact that the case materials are classified as "secret" and removed all those present from the hall.

On the subject: American arrested by the FSB came to Russia for a friend's wedding

Whelan was left under arrest, as requested by the investigation, until the end of August.

Whelan's lawyer, Vladimir Zherebenkov, later tried to clarify and soften the words of an American, saying that there were no real threats to the life and health of his client, and his statement about threats from outside should be understood figuratively.

“What he meant was that he was told he would be convicted and he considered that a threat. And by violation of rights, he understands that he is not provided with proper medical care (the absence of a dentist in the pre-trial detention center), they are not given books, even in Russian, there are problems with correspondence, and also that he has not had a bath day for two weeks,” said Zherebenkov ( Interfax quote).

The Russian Public Monitoring Commission promised to check Whelan’s statement about the violation of his rights by employees of the Lefortovo detention center.

“In the coming days, we will check whether Whelan’s rights are respected by the pre-trial detention center staff and find out why he could not, according to him, take a shower for two weeks,” Interfax quotes executive secretary of the POC Ivan Melnikov.

Whelan's Detention

On December 31, the FSB reported that US citizen Whelan was detained in Moscow on December 28 “during an espionage action.”

The case is being led by FSB investigator Alexey Khizhnyak, who has handled similar cases before - in particular, the case of treason brought against the former head of the Baltic Center for Dialogue of Cultures in Kaliningrad.

On the subject: American lawyer detained in Russia was imposed on a non-English speaking lawyer

Former marines and head of security services at several firms, Whelan denies the accusations and says that he went to Moscow for a wedding to a friend.

"I know the friend's name, but I won't say it out of concern for his privacy," Whelan's brother David previously told the BBC. Paul's family is also confident of his innocence.

Monitored in the spring

According to the lawyer, the FSB began spying on the former US military long before his arrest.

“Naturally, he was under surveillance before he was detained,” said his lawyer. “I know that he was in Moscow in the spring of 2018, that is, this observation has been carried out since the spring of 2018.”

In the case, according to a lawyer, there is a statement from a certain person who claims that he handed to Whelan the information constituting the state secret. At the same time, Zherebenkov refused to comment on the information that the applicant from the case of Whelan, who had transferred the secret information, could have been related to the FSB.

“I confirm that information constituting a state secret was found on him [Whelan],” the lawyer said, without specifying what this information was. “It was not perceived by [Whelan] as a state secret. And [he] shouldn’t have received it,” added Zherebenkov.

According to the lawyer, Whelan thought that the flash drive that was handed to him contained “information for tourists in Russia, including about temples.” Zherebenkov noted that Whelan could not see what was on the flash drive in advance, but took it because he did not know the Russian language.

Paul Whelan, who was born in Canada but lived most of his life in the United States, has four citizenships - Canadian, American, British (through his mother) and Irish (through his grandfather).

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