The attorney for Michigan native and former Marine Paul Whelan, sentenced to 16 years of hard labor in Russia for allegedly spying, said Russian officials should be sanctioned if his client is not set free.
Ryan Fayhee, who is giving the Whelan family pro bono assistance, told the Washington Examiner that if the sentence stands, the United States should invoke the Magnitsky Act, a law that empowers the U.S. government to impose sanctions on foreign officials responsible for human rights abuses.
“If that’s the outcome, then the U.S., you know, obviously should resort to that stick,” said Fayhee, a former Justice Department sanctions prosecutor and a counterespionage expert.
Whelan was seized in December 2018 while traveling in Moscow with a flash drive that contained classified information, which his family believes was given to him by a “former friend” and Russian intelligence agency employee who owed him $1,400. Whelan’s family, as well as U.S. officials and allied observers, believe that Russia plans to use the detained man as a bargaining chip in political negotiations with the U.S.
“It’s really big sentence,” said a central European official following the case. “It has ramifications for bilateral relations. But also, we have to follow what Russia wants in return, because Russia wants something big.”
Whelan’s attorney in Russia surmised that Moscow might seek the release of two Russians serving lengthy prison sentences in the U.S. One of those convicts, Konstantin Yaroshenko, is a pilot who was arrested on drug smuggling charges and given a 20-year sentence in 2011. The other, arms trafficker Viktor Bout, was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being convicted of agreeing to sell heavy weapons to a Colombian terrorist organization.
“What we’re looking for is not an exchange, we’re looking for justice for Paul and his release,” U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan told reporters Monday after the sentence was announced. Whelan’s family recognizes the difficulty of trying to swap their brother for criminals such as Bout and Yaroshenko.
“I would be conflicted as a person who cares very much about America if someone like Viktor Bout was released,” said David Whelan, the former Marine’s twin brother, in an interview with the Washington Examiner. “Fundamentally, if Paul could be released and sent home today, that would be great, and I wouldn’t ask any questions about how it was done. But the reality of being in this situation as a family member, is that you realize that this isn’t just local justice. This is an international political problem. It is damaging the U.S.-Russia relationship.”
The case should be a cautionary tale for all Americans who might want to visit Russia.
“We’re at a stage now where U.S. citizens can just simply not travel safely to Russia,” said Fayhee.
