The Moscow City Court sentenced 50-year-old US citizen Paul Whelan to 16 years in a maximum security colony for espionage. It is reported by RIA Novosti. It is noted that the judge announced only the operative part of the decision, since the materials are classified.

The prosecution requested for the defendant 18 years in prison. Whelan himself in the last word said that he was not engaged in espionage. He also said that he intends to appeal the verdict.

US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan said he was “disappointed and outraged” by the verdict. “I intend to continue to work to demand evidence in the Paul Whelan case,” the diplomat said. According to him, the first thing he is after the trial, he is going to talk with the family of the convict.

Recall that the American Paul Whelan was detained by the FSB in Moscow at the end of December the year before last.

“On December 28, 2018, in the city of Moscow, employees of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation detained US citizen Paul Whelan during an espionage campaign,” the agency said, without disclosing the details of the operation.

A criminal case was instituted against the American under Art. 276 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Spying”. The Russian Foreign Ministry said it had informed the US diplomatic mission about the detention. Later, the State Department confirmed that they had received a notification, and also stated that they had requested consular access to their citizen. At the same time, the American side refused to provide additional information about the detainee, referring to the inviolability of his personal life.

Later it became known that Paul Whelan is the director of security at BorgWarner. They said they learned about the arrest of their officer from FSB reports published on December 31.

“We can confirm that Mr. Whelan is currently the director of the global security company. He is responsible for the safety of our facilities in Auburn Hills, Michigan, and at other locations around the world where the company is located, ”they said.

  • © Vladimir Song / RIA News

The brother of the detainee, David Whelan, in turn, said that his relative came to Russia for a wedding, and, according to him, the case was happening in the Kremlin and a US citizen acted as a guide for the guests of the event. When Whelan disappeared, the newlyweds reported his disappearance to law enforcement.

In his Twitter account, David Whelan posted a letter on behalf of the family, in which he declared his brother's innocence. He spoke about the same thing in a conversation with the video agency Ruptly.

“I don’t think there is at least one chance that my brother Paul is a spy. There was a very extensive and detailed investigation of his personal data and social networks. This is an invasion of his personal life, but, on the other hand, this not-so-good thing proves that he is not a spy. Anyone who has similar profiles on social networks and shows tourist activity cannot be a spy, ”he said.

The American edition of CNN published an article stating that Paul Whelan was born in Canada, his parents were British. He served in the United States Marine Corps and traveled several times to Iraq. In recent years, he resided in Novi, Michigan. He has been with BorgWarner since 2017. As David Whelan explained to CNN, his brother was involved in the company's physical security at the company.

In addition, one of the articles on the US Marine Corps website said that Whelan, while still a senior sergeant, used two weeks of leave in 2006 to visit Russia, namely Moscow and St. Petersburg.

It is worth noting that the man, in addition to American, also has British, Canadian and Irish citizenship.

On January 2, John Huntsman, then US ambassador to Russia, visited Whelan. Details of the conversation were not disclosed, but it was reported that the assistance of the embassy was offered to the American citizen. Later, the Irish and British consulates also requested access to it.

In December 2019, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at a press conference following talks with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Whelan makes “arrogant” statements to create an image of a martyr.

“I also want to note that Paul Whelan - maybe this is the tactic that his lawyers chose - is behaving defiantly. He threatens the employees of the Federal Penitentiary Service, threatens to drill their heads with a drill and makes a lot of other arrogant statements, ”the minister said.