Russia jails ex-U.S. marine Paul Whelan for 16 years over espionage

[snoop1130]

Russia jails ex-U.S. marine Paul Whelan for 16 years over espionage

By Andrew Osborn and Anton Kolodyazhnyy

 

Former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who was detained and accused of espionage, holds a sign as he stands inside a defendants' cage during his verdict hearing in Moscow, Russia June 15, 2020. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian court found former U.S. marine Paul Whelan guilty of spying for the United States on Monday and sentenced him to 16 years in jail, a move the U.S. ambassador to Moscow called an egregious violation of human rights that would harm ties.

 

Whelan, who holds U.S., British, Canadian and Irish passports, was detained by agents from Russia’s Federal Security Service in a Moscow hotel room on Dec. 28, 2018.

 

Russia says Whelan, 50, was caught red-handed with a computer flash drive containing classified information. Whelan, who pleaded not guilty, said he was set up in a sting and had thought the drive, given to him by a Russian acquaintance, contained holiday photos.

 

U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan told reporters after the verdict that no evidence had been produced to prove Whelan's guilt and demanded he be released immediately.

 

"His conviction is a mockery of justice," said Sullivan.

 

He said the ruling would not have "a good influence" on already poor ties between Moscow and Washington, but that dialogue would continue.

 

Vladimir Zherebenkov, Whelan's lawyer, said his client had been told when detained that he would be part of a prisoner swap with a Russian national held in the United States.

 

When asked about such an idea, the Russian Foreign Ministry told the RIA news agency it had proposed prisoner swaps to the United States many times but gave no further details.

 

Moscow has repeatedly called on Washington to secure the release of two Russian nationals - convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout and Konstantin Yaroshenko, a pilot serving 20 years in the United States for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the country.

 

Zherebenkov said Whelan had no objection to the idea of formally asking Russia to pardon him, something that if granted could secure his release.

 

Whelan will serve his sentence in a maximum security prison, Moscow's city court said. His trial was closed because authorities said it involved the discussion of state secrets.

 

State prosecutors, who accused Whelan of having at least the rank of a U.S. military intelligence colonel, had asked the court to sentence Whelan to 18 years in a maximum security prison.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-06-15

 

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[Pedrogaz]

Karma really. He sounds guilty as charged, like a classic agent. If he has to serve the sentence his life is pretty much over. Russian media says he will be in a 'penal colony' which doesn't sound very appetising.

 

Other English language media have quotes from US hypocritical dignitaries slamming the trial as being a sham, with the trial hand in secrecy, the defendant having no access to prosecution data etc etc....exactly the treatment that people charged under the US's Patriot Act get.....except that under the Patriot act you have no access to lawyers before the trial.

[Proboscis]

34 minutes ago, Pedrogaz said:

Karma really. He sounds guilty as charged, like a classic agent. If he has to serve the sentence his life is pretty much over. Russian media says he will be in a 'penal colony' which doesn't sound very appetising.

 

Other English language media have quotes from US hypocritical dignitaries slamming the trial as being a sham, with the trial hand in secrecy, the defendant having no access to prosecution data etc etc....exactly the treatment that people charged under the US's Patriot Act get.....except that under the Patriot act you have no access to lawyers before the trial.

Except that the only evidence presented in public has been that the defendant held/holds the rank of Colonel in the US Intelligence Service. There are no military ranks in the US intelligence services. Hmmm.

 

A lot of people "sound" guilty.

 

The Patriot Act deals with terrorism, not spying.

 

The Patriot Act does NOT prevent access to lawyers. There are issues about the confidentiality of attorney-client confidentiality under the Patriot Act but again the Patriot Act is about terrorism, not spying. So it does not apply to this case.

 

 

[Tropposurfer]

45 minutes ago, Pedrogaz said:

Karma really. He sounds guilty as charged, like a classic agent. If he has to serve the sentence his life is pretty much over. Russian media says he will be in a 'penal colony' which doesn't sound very appetising.

 

Other English language media have quotes from US hypocritical dignitaries slamming the trial as being a sham, with the trial hand in secrecy, the defendant having no access to prosecution data etc etc....exactly the treatment that people charged under the US's Patriot Act get.....except that under the Patriot act you have no access to lawyers before the trial.

"Penal colony"; Hmmmm ... maybe they'll send him to Cuba. Nice sunny spot, cute brown women, nice cigars I believe, cuban rum. Ya pay your fee, ya takes the ride so to speak. If he is a spy then he's lucky its just prison and not an execution somewhere.

[welovesundaysatspace]

Meatball surgery?

Paul life matters? 
Happy birthday flora? 
 

This guy may be innocent, but he certainly doesn’t have good advisors. 

[mvdf]

Thank you, Russia. Love news like this.

[Kasset Tak]

In US people are setup in sting operations where police officers or police informers make people commit crimes all the time, and then sentence them to long prison sentences... so if there was classified documents on the drive and it was a sting operation... then US can't really complain that another country does what US does all the time.

Just look at US law: a Swedish woman was imprisoned for years for being an accomplice of armed robber and murder. She was high and sleeping in the car when her then (American) boyfriend went in to a gas station, he robbed it and shot someone to death... still she got convicted as an accomplice as she was in his car! That's like saying that everyone inside the White house is co-responsible for any dumb decision that Donald makes as a president...

[LomSak27]

On 6/16/2020 at 10:33 AM, Pedrogaz said:

Karma really. He sounds guilty as charged, like a classic agent.

You get that from a ouija board