The Moscow City Court handed Mordovia a petition to defend the American Paul Whelan, convicted of espionage, for his deportation to the United States to serve his sentence. Mr. Whelan is in the Mordovian settlement of the village of Ozerny. In August, the defense filed a petition with the Moscow City Court for his deportation in order to serve his sentence in the United States. The lawyers explained that the convict was “objectively deprived of the possibility of preserving and establishing social and family ties”, and that in addition, it was difficult to provide him with medical assistance in the colony.
“The Moscow City Court decided to deny Whelan’s defense to consider the request for his transfer to the United States and decided that this matter should be considered by the court in the region where the convicted person is being held. In our case, it is the Supreme Court of Mordovia ”, declared Olga Karlova, lawyer for Mr. Whelan (quoted from TASS).
According to her, the defense initially sent a petition to the Moscow City Court, since it convicted Paul Whelan, and the documents in the case are there. “But for some reason they don’t want to consider it,” the lawyer added.
FSB agents arrested a citizen of the United States, Great Britain and Canada, Paul Whelan, on December 28, 2018 in a room at the Metropol Hotel in Moscow. A criminal case was opened against him under Art. 276 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (espionage). In June this year, the Moscow City Court found him guilty and sentenced him to 16 years in a strict regime settlement. The convict himself denied the charges against him and called the case fabricated and the court political and fictitious.
More details on the defense motion can be found in Kommersant’s document, “Paul Whelan Suffers Much”.
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