Paul Whelan was attacked in a Russian colony: the American escaped with broken glasses

28 November American convicted of spying in Russia Paul Whelan was attacked by another prison inmate. According to Paul's brother, David Whelan, the incident occurred in the sewing workshop of the penal colony IK-17, where the American is serving his sentence.

Photo: IStock

David said that a prisoner who had recently arrived at the colony blocked Paul's path and blocked his passage to part of the production line. The prisoner initially did not respond to the American’s polite requests to step aside, and then hit Paul in the face, breaking his glasses. The hooligan did not calm down and tried to get to the foreigner again. According to David, Paul, taught by the bitter experience of life in a colony, was ready to repel a new blow, but other prisoners unexpectedly stood up for him, and the fight was stopped.

The American complained to his brother that there were no guards in the workshop, and Whelan had to specifically look for them to report the attack. Despite the fact that Paul Whelan himself regarded the attack on him as “not too serious,” he reported it to the deputy head of the camp and even asked the colony administration to contact the prosecutor’s office of Mordovia to conduct an investigation.

On the subject: Not only Paul Whelan: how many Americans are serving sentences in Russian prisons

«Paul is very concerned that similar attacks could happen again at any time. Do not forget that there are many sharp objects in the workshop, including scissors. For example, the prisoner who attacked Paul was holding scissors in his hand at the time of the fight, which means that the next attack could be much more serious. Paul turned out to be an easy target for them simply because he is American, and anti-American sentiment is not uncommon among Russian prisoners", explained David Whelan.

Paul said prison authorities took the report of the attack seriously, but it was too early to say whether they would take steps to ensure the American's safety in the future. Realizing this, Paul Whelan’s family tried to protect themselves as much as possible and handed over the recording of the conversation with him to employees of the US State Department and the National Security Council so that, knowing about the threat of new attacks, they could raise this issue with the Russian government.

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Let us recall that earlier Paul Whelan complained against the administration of the colony, which, according to him, took revenge on him for refusing to give an interview to the RT television channel. Then, as Whelan says, the deputy head of the colony and the head of its security burst into his cell and, dumping all his personal belongings on the floor, began to trample them with their boots.

Even earlier, in December last year, an American reportedthat the administration “hid” him in the prison hospital to hide the recruitment of prisoners for the war in Ukraine.

Former Marine Paul Whelan was detained on December 28, 2018 in Moscow on charges of espionage. On June 15, 2020, the Moscow City Court sentenced him to 16 years in a maximum security colony. At the same time, Paul himself and his relatives believethat an American could be set up by his friend, an FSB officer Ilya Yatsenko.

According to the brother of the accused, Paul had known the FSB agent for about 10 years. with 2009 years, and regularly visited him in Sergiev Posad. According to David Whelan, Paul, Ilya and another unnamed friend dined at the Goodman restaurant in Moscow on Christmas Day 2018, three days before Whelan's arrest. David believes that it was Ilya who gave Paul a flash drive with secret data under the guise of innocent photographs, thereby setting him up.

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