A Russian court extended the detention of former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan as he awaits a trial on charges of espionage.
Whelan, 49, has been imprisoned in Russia for a year and faces up to 20 years in prison if tried and convicted. The Moscow City Court extended his detention by three months on Tuesday.
“No espionage, no evidence, no red hand,” Whelan said Tuesday before security guards threatened to remove the press from the courtroom if he did not stop speaking.
Whelan also said the Federal Security Service, the Russian intelligence service, was threatening him.
Russia has accused Whelan, who also holds British, Irish, and Canadian citizenship, of accepting a flash drive carrying classified information while he was in Moscow for a friend’s wedding. His Russia-appointed attorney said the device was planted by someone “connected to the military” whom Whelan considered a friend.
Russia has repeatedly extended Whelan’s captivity through a series of judicial proceedings and has restricted his communications with American officials and his family.
“It’s hard to think of Paul being in a prison in this sort of situation where there is clearly no evidence and he is being used for political purposes,” David Whelan, the imprisoned Michigan resident’s twin brother, told the Washington Examiner.
