Michigan native Paul Whelan was subjected to “severe” solitary confinement in a Russian prison without the ability to shower for a month, according to a new report from his family.
“Paul said that a fellow inmate described his solitary confinement as more severe than normal,” David Whelan, the American detainee’s twin brother, wrote in an email to reporters and activists. “The prison did not allow Paul to shower or exercise during the entire month.”
Whelan, an ex-Marine who holds a U.K. passport courtesy of his British parents, was released from solitary confinement late last week following a visit from British Embassy officials that prompted the prison authorities to allow him to bathe for the first time in weeks. And the prison “infractions” that led to his solitary confinement were just as “arbitrary,” his family said, as the charges that led to his arrest in the first place.
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“Paul was asked to go to the prison administration building, which prisoners can’t normally go to,” David Whelan wrote, while relaying the one “infraction” that his brother described to their parents in a phone call this weekend. “When he got there, he was turned away. Paul was then asked to return to the administration building, where he was given an infraction for having responded to the order to go to the administration building the first time. Apparently, Paul was placed in solitary confinement for a month due to an accumulation of pettiness.”
Whelan, an ex-Marine, was seized in December 2018 and charged with espionage, a case of “hostage diplomacy” by Russian security services, according to Whelan and his advocates, who surmised that he is a bargaining chip for the release of well-connected Russian criminals serving lengthy sentences in the United States. President Joe Biden’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin fell on the 900th day of his detention, stirring hope for his release among supporters that day, and the weeks following have passed without any sign of a breakthrough related to his case.
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“We are glad he is able to speak with our parents again,” his brother wrote. “Paul has still been unable to call the U.S. Embassy or his lawyer. We continue to hope that someone, somewhere, is making an effort to get Paul released.”
