The Moscow City Court rejected the appeal by suspected spy Paul Whelan's defense teams and will proceed with keeping him in detention until December 29, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the courtroom on Tuesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th November, 2019) The Moscow City Court rejected the appeal by suspected spy Paul Whelan's defense teams and will proceed with keeping him in detention until December 29, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the courtroom on Tuesday.
"The decision of the Lefortovo district court of Moscow is to be left without changes, appeals are dismissed," the judge announced.
The court session was closed to the public due to the secrecy of the case, and the detainee participated via a video call from the pre-trial detention center.�
The Lefortovo district court in Moscow had on October 24 extended the arrest of Whelan, who is a former US Marine held since December on charges of espionage. He has continuously denied the accusations, insisting that he had arrived in Russia to attend a friend's wedding.
The suspected spy is a citizen of Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States. According to the information provided to the Russian court, he had regularly visited Russia since 2007.
If convicted, the accused faces a sentence from 10 to 20 years in prison.
