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The family of Paul Whelan, a former US Marine incarcerated in Russia on charges of spying, said they are concerned for his safety that they have lost communication with him in recent days.
David Whelan, Mr Whelan’s brother, said Tuesday in comments reported by ABC News that prison officials purportedly moved Mr Whelan to a prison hospital without providing a clear explanation of why. The family’s concern for Mr Whelan grew after he missed a scheduled phone call with them on Thanksgiving as well as calls with the US embassy.
“Paul was not complaining of any health conditions that required hospitalization, so has there been an emergency? He appeared healthy and well to the Embassy staff,” David Whelan wrote in a statement to the network.
“If Paul’s at the prison hospital, why is he being prohibited from making phone calls that every prisoner is allowed to make?” he continued. “Is he unable to make calls? Or is he really still at IK-17 but he’s been put in solitary and the prison is hiding that fact[?]”
Mr Whelan was arrested when visiting Moscow in 2018 for a friend’s wedding and sentenced to 16 years in prison on espionage charges. He has reportedly spent the last two years at Correctional Colony 17, a camp in the Mordovia region 300 miles southeast of the capital.
Mr Whelan is not the only American incarcerated in the Mordovia. Women’s basketball star Brittney Griner, who was earlier this year arrested and sentenced to nine years inprisonment for carrying cannabis oil in her luggage in a Moscow airport, is also currently serving her sentence at a prison in the area.
The US government was reportedly negociating with the Russian government earlier this year to secure the release of both Mr Whelan and Ms Griner, but those talks have not yielded an agreement. The US has signalled its willingness to trade convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout in exchange for the Mr Whelan and Ms Griner, but Russia has reportedly balked at the notion of exchanging one of their citizens for two Americans.
The US considers both Ms Griner and Mr Whelan wrongfully detained and imprisoned for political purposes.
Now, Mr Whelan’s advocates are concerned that he may be facing more harm. Mr Whelan’s Russian lawyer Vladimir Zherebenkov told ABC News that his client just had a medical check up two weeks ago that did not find any major issues — leading some to wonder whether Mr Whelan is being sick, being punished, or being moved to a different facility.
