The court sentence for former US marine Paul Whelan, found guilty in Russia on espionage charges, will enter into force on Friday, Moscow City Court spokeswoman Ulyana Solopova told Sputnik on Thursday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd July, 2020) The court sentence for former US marine Paul Whelan, found guilty in Russia on espionage charges, will enter into force on Friday, Moscow City Court spokeswoman Ulyana Solopova told Sputnik on Thursday.
Whelan, who is also a citizen of Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom, was arrested in Russia in December 2018. He was sentenced by the Moscow City Court to 16 years in prison on June 15. Earlier on Thursday, Whelan's lawyer, Vladimir Zherebenkov, told Sputnik that his client's sentence has been in effect since June 26, as he was sentenced on June 15 and had 10 days to file an appeal. Zherebenkov stated that the defense had refrained from filing an appeal in order to not waste time, suggesting that his client might be exchanged for a Russian national detained in the United States.
"The sentence will enter into force on July 3," Solopova said.
The spokeswoman explained that the period for filing an appeal starts not from the moment when the verdict is announced, but after a convict receives their written copy of the verdict, which, in Whelan's case, had to be translated to English. Russian media have reported that Whelan received his copy of the verdict on June 22.
Solopova added that neither the defense nor the prosecution had appealed the court decision, but there was still one day left for either of them to do so.
Whelan has denied the charges and insisted that he came to Russia for a friend's wedding. Court papers have revealed that he has frequented Russia since 2007.
Zherebenkov claims that Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service is considering exchanging Whelan for either Konstantin Yaroshenko, sentenced to 20 years in US prison on drug trafficking charges, or Viktor Bout, charged with conspiracy to commit the murder of US citizens, as well as illegally selling portable surface-to-air missiles.
