Whelan Family Hopeful US Senate Resolution To Make Paul's Release From Russia 'Priority'

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd July, 2021) The family of convicted spy Paul Whelan, who is serving a 16-year prison sentence in Russia, said on Friday that it hopes the new Senate resolution will reaffirm the need for the US government to make his release a priority.

On Thursday, the US Senate passed a resolution calling on the Russian authorities to provide evidence of Whelan's guilt or release him.

"We hope that the Senate resolution will reaffirm the need for the State Department to make Paul's release a priority and to free him from this arbitrary punishment and detention," Paul's brother David said.

The US embassy in Moscow has meanwhile informed the Whelan family that Paul's solitary confinement has been extended for another 15 days.

"We don't know when the extension started or why the solitary confinement has been extended.�We had thought the last one might end on Monday, July 19," he said.

Whelan's lawyer Vladimir Zherebenkov told Sputnik earlier this week that the legal defense team is now preparing a statement on his possible expulsion from Russia.

Paul Whelan, who is also a citizen of Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom, has maintained he is innocent and insisted that he came to Russia for a friend's wedding. Court papers have revealed that he has frequented Russia since 2007.