The Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia (FSIN) has provided US national Paul Whelan, who has been in Russian custody on charges of espionage since December, with an interpreter in order to facilitate his communication with attorneys, Evgeny Enikeev, a member of the Public Oversight Commission of Moscow, said on Friday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th July, 2019) The Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia (FSIN) has provided US national Paul Whelan, who has been in Russian custody on charges of espionage since December, with an interpreter in order to facilitate his communication with attorneys, Evgeny Enikeev, a member of the Public Oversight Commission of Moscow, said on Friday.Earlier, the commission told Sputnik that its representatives' conversation with Whelan at the Lefortofo detention center was interrupted the moment he began speaking English without an interpreter, which is prohibited.
"After half a year, the FSIN has provided [Whelan] with an interpreter for communications with foreign prisoners in the Lefortovo detention facility. This was preceded by a trial in which the FSIN acted as a defendant because it had not implemented its own order. The discussion has confirmed there exist problems brought about by the language barrier," Enikeev wrote in a blog post.
He added that the interpreter had no affiliation with the FSIN and was hired externally.
Whelan, who holds US, UK, Canadian and Irish citizenship, was arrested in Moscow in December 2018 on charges of espionage. He has denied the accusations and insisted that he was in Russia to attend a friend's wedding. According to information provided to the court, Whelan had been visiting Russia regularly since 2007. He works as a senior manager at automotive industry company BorgWarner. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
On May 30, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov confirmed that Whelan and his legal team would have full access to case materials after the investigation was completed.
