American Paul Whelan is imprisoned in Russia on espionage charges. On Tuesday afternoon, his family said that he was attacked at a labor camp.
Whelan is a 53-year-old former Marine who was in Russia for a friend’s wedding in 2018. He was detained and accused of espionage and spying. In 2020, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison. The attack Tuesday was from a fellow prisoner.
David Whelan said his brother was assaulted at a labor camp Tuesday afternoon. He said his brother was working at a sewing table when a new inmate blocked part of the production line and Paul asked him to move out of the way.
“After repeated requests, the prisoner hit Paul in the face, breaking Paul’s glasses in the process, and attempted to hit him a second time,” David Whelan said in an email statement. “Paul stood up to block the second hit and other prisoners intervened to prevent the prisoner continuing to attack Paul.”
Paul is concerned a future attack may be more dangerous to him since the workshop has shears like the other prisoner was holding Tuesday. The next attack may escalate to a more serious one. He has asked the prison warden for permission to speak to the local prosecutors about investigating the attack. David Whelan said that “anti-American sentiment is not uncommon among the other prisoners.”
A State Department spokesman released a statement.
“We are concerned about reports that Paul Whelan was assaulted by another prisoner in IK-17 on November 28,” the spokesperson said in an email. “The U.S. Embassy in Moscow has been in contact with Paul via phone and we understand he is receiving medical treatment following this incident.”
The State Department also called on Russia to release Whelan and to ensure all U.S. citizens being detained there are safe.
“We urge the Russian government to ensure fair treatment and appropriate medical care for all U.S. citizens detained in Russia. Russia should immediately release Paul Whelan,” the spokesperson added.”
Whelan is receiving medical treatment for facial injuries during the attack, according to his brother.
“I’m not sure if it was the attacker’s fist or Paul’s glasses that caused the damage but Paul is expecting facial bruising from the strike. And his glasses were broken,” David Whelan added, noting this was the first time he was physically assaulted at the IK-17 prison, though he was attacked once at the Lefortovo pretrial detention in Moscow.
Whelan was rumored to be a part of the prisoner swap when WNBA player Brittney Griner was released in exchange for a notorious Russian arms dealer with the nickname of the “Merchant of Death.” Whelan was left out of the deal, though he had been imprisoned much longer than Griner. Her celebrity as a basketball player in the United States and in Russia apparently outweighed a former U.S. Marine.
U.S. officials said after Griner’s release that the Kremlin did not make Paul Whelan available in any possible swap and that they view his detention differently given the espionage charge despite the spurious charges. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was detained last March and charged last April on espionage charges while reporting on Russia’s defense industrial complex.
“We ain’t giving up,” President Joe Biden said Thursday in Nantucket, Massachusetts, regarding the prospect of their release.
Unfortunately for Americans held in Russia, the bumbling Biden administration has not been very successful in getting Americans released. The previous administration had a much more robust record in rescuing Americans detained overseas. Putin and other bad actors don’t pay much attention to the demands issued by dazed and confused Joe Biden and his inept State Department.
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