Russian Court Extends Detention of Former Marine Charged with Spying

By: - February 26, 2019

On Friday, a Moscow court extended to three additional months the detention of Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine facing espionage charges.

Vladimir Zherebenkov, Whelan’s counsel, told the media that his client will remain in custody until the trial begins on May 28th. The judge’s decision to keep the Marine veteran imprisoned comes following a request by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) earlier this week.

Whelan was also deemed by the court to be mentally and physically fit to face charges. “My client underwent a forensic medical examination and was declared competent to stand trial,” said Zherebenkov.

Whelan, 48, was arrested in Moscow on December 28th and is facing charges of spying for the U.S. Should he be convicted, he will face between 10 and 20 years in jail. Whelan’s family deny the charges, stating that he had found himself in Moscow solely to celebrate the retirement party of a fellow Marine.

While Zherebenkov alleged that prosecutors “don’t have strong evidence to back up the charges,” he admitted that Whelan was found in his hotel room with a flash drive containing sensitive Russian military secrets, but maintained he hadn’t been aware that he was dealing with classified material.

Whelan is a citizen of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland. All four countries say that they will fight for his release and will coordinate together on how to best assist Whelan avoid a heavy prison sentence.

Whelan had been a police officer in his home state of Michigan before enlisting in the U.S. Marines. He deployed to Iraq in 2004 and again in 2006. Later, Whelan was given a dishonorable discharge in 2008 from the Marines after being convicted on larceny charges, including accusations that he embezzled $10,000 from the Marines and wrote $60,000 of counterfeit checks.

Following his discharge, Whelan visited Russia repeatedly and established frequent contacts on a local Russian social media site. To support the claim that Whelan was indeed a U.S. intelligence agent, Russian officials point to the fact that the overwhelming majority of his contacts had connections to the Russian military.

However, Whelan’s friends, family, and veterans of the U.S. intelligence community say that it was impossible for him to have been spying for the U.S. government, invoking the problematic behavior that resulted in his court martial as proof that no intelligence agency would utilize him as human intel.

“This guy is not an intel asset,” former U.S. intelligence officer Malcom Nance told The New York Times following Whelan’s arrest. “[Whelan] is not the type of person you would use as an asset. There is no way.”

  • RSS WND

    • WATCH: Tucker Carlson: How will AI affect work?
      Mike Rowe, still one of the best guys in the world. pic.twitter.com/06WduOhPuB — Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) March 28, 2024 For 25 years, WND has boldly brought you the news that really matters. If you appreciate our Christian journalists and their uniquely truthful reporting and analysis, please help us by becoming a WND Insider! Content created… […]
    • MSNBC: 1 man's 'election denier' is another man's TV host
      MSNBC, the "news" outfit on which the Rev. Al Sharpton has a show, briefly hired former Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, at $300,000 per year, to serve as an on-air pundit. Why did the rabidly anti-Trump, anti-Republican network make her the offer? MSNBC likely did so because 2024 is an election year; McDaniel was… […]
    • Dems' weakest case against Trump is first to go to trial
      Donald Trump was first indicted nearly a year ago, on April 4, 2023, when Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced charges against the former president over a nondisclosure agreement Trump used to buy the silence of porn actress Stormy Daniels, with whom he had apparently had a brief sexual encounter. Bragg, an elected Democrat, won… […]
    • White House adds hair-sniffing contest to Easter Egg Roll!
      It's about time again for the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. What the resurrection of Jesus has to do with eggs, chocolate candy, jelly beans or peeps is beyond me. Jesus did not arise from the dead and walk through the walls of the tomb holding an Easter basket and looking for eggs laid… […]
    • Say it, media: DEMOCRATS are prosecuting Trump
      On March 25, "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart uncorked a typical not-so-funny sermon about how Donald Trump overvaluing real estate properties was not a "victimless crime." Trump has been found liable for fraud despite no banker or financier ever claiming Trump victimized them. Then the New York Post reported talk-show host Tim Pool tweeted that… […]
    • Our subsidiarity vs. their intersectionality: How we win
      In their weekly podcast, Hollywood veteran Loy Edge and longtime WND columnist Jack Cashill skirt the everyday politics downstream and travel merrily upstream to the source of our extraordinary culture. The post Our subsidiarity vs. their intersectionality: How we win appeared first on WND.
    • The shocking beliefs of America's powerful 'elites'
      It is becoming increasingly clear that some of America's most serious problems can be traced back to our colleges and universities – or at least the ones educating the country's most powerful people. The Vietnam War era aside, it has traditionally been uncommon for events at universities to make national headlines. Absent something extraordinary, like… […]
    • Who is really behind Moscow terror attack?
      Was the Islamic State (ISIS) behind the Crocus City Hall terror attack in Moscow that killed 139 and wounded 182 on March 22, 2024, or not? The Islamic State did claim the attack, and the Western mainstream is agreed that the terror group was, indeed, behind it. On March 25, White House press secretary Karine… […]
    • Only Democrats get to lie on NBC News
      Ronna McDaniel, formerly chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, was recently hired and subsequently fired by NBC News when the "talent," unable to countenance even moderate dissent, revolted on air. The entire kerfuffle is unsurprising considering the state of modern "media." But one of the funniest moments of the McDaniel blowup came when host and… […]
    • Accept $40,000 loan offer from 'FIL'?
      Dear Dave, My wife and I owe about $40,000 on our mortgage. My father-in-law, who is a very nice and generous man, said he wants to pay off the house for us, then let us pay him back over time. We've borrowed much smaller amounts of money from him in the past, and we were… […]
  • Enter My WorldView