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Agence France-Presse

The lawyer for an American man held in Moscow on suspicion of spying said on Tuesday that classified Russian materials were found on him when he was arrested.
Paul Whelan, a former US Marine, was arrested in Moscow at the end of December.

Whelan appeared in court on Tuesday where the judge extended his arrest and denied his bail request.
“In Russia as a rule people are kept in custody,” Paul Whelan’s lawyer Vladimir Zherebenkov said outside the Moscow court where the former marine appeared for the closed hearing.
Spying charges carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years in Russia.
Zherebenkov told Russian news agencies before the hearing that when Whelan was detained at a Moscow hotel at the end of December he had something with him that contained “state secrets”.
The lawyer said he did not know how Whelan got hold of the classified material, but said his client thought he was carrying a USB drive containing cultural information.

“He was expecting to see on the flash drive some personal information like pictures or videos, something like that, about that person’s previous trips around Russia,” Zherebenkov told reporters. “We don’t know how the materials that contain state secrets ended up there.”
Zherebenkov said Whelan did not check what was on the drive.
Family of American ‘spy’ held in Moscow rejects report of Russia visit
Russia’s FSB security service arrested Whelan, a security specialist at a US car parts company, on December 28, saying he was caught “while carrying out an act of espionage”.
Western analysts have speculated that Whelan, 48, was detained to pave the way for a possible spy swap with a Russian agent arrested abroad, such as Marina Butina.

Butina is a gun rights campaigner who was convicted of being a “foreign agent” in the US last month.
Zherebenkov said he expected any trial to last for at least half a year and there could be no talk of any exchange until it was finished.
“I saw him last week … he feels well, he has a sense of dignity,” the lawyer added.

A spokeswoman for the US embassy in Moscow told Russian media it was “closely following” the case.
We “continue to urge Russia to follow international law and provide a quick, fair and transparent trial”, Andrea Kalan said.
The US ambassador to Russia, Jon Huntsman, has visited Whelan at Moscow’s Lefortovo prison.
Whelan’s family said he was in Moscow for a friend’s wedding.
US ambassador Jon Huntsman meets Paul Whelan, American held by Russia on spying charges
Whelan also holds British, Irish and Canadian passports but his family said in a statement Monday that the UK and Canadian governments had been denied consular access.
The New York Times has reported that the Marine Corps court-martialed Whelan in 2008 on charges of larceny and passing bad cheques, an offence that in most cases disqualifies candidates from foreign intelligence work.
Additional reporting by Associated Press, Reuters


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Espionage

American ‘spy’ held in Moscow was holding Russian ‘state secrets’ when caught, says lawyer

Paul Whelan, a former US Marine accused of espionage and arrested in Russia, listens to his lawyers while standing in a defendants’ box at a hearing at a court in Moscow on January 22, 2019. Photo: AFP

epa07261496 A view of a building of the investigation department of the Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB), Lefortovo pretrial detention facility in Moscow, Russia, 04 January 2019. The US Marine veteran, Paul Whelan, was arrested in Moscow by the FSB on 28 December 2018 on espionage allegations for which he could be sentenced to at least 10 years in prison. EPA-EFE/MAXIM SHIPENKOV

epa07262219 A Russian flag flies next to the US embassy building in Moscow, Russia, 04 January 2019. Paul Whelan, a US Marine with British and American nationality, according to the Russia FSB was caught on 28 December in Moscow 'during an espionage operation', but gave no further details on Whelan's espionage activities. A criminal case has been opened against Paul Whelan under the Russian Criminal Code, which allows for prison sentences of up to 20 years. EPA-EFE/MAXIM SHIPENKOV

Paul Whelan, a former US Marine accused of espionage and arrested in Russia, listens to his lawyers while standing inside a defendants' cage during a hearing at a court in Moscow on January 22, 2019. (Photo by Mladen ANTONOV / AFP)

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Former marine turned security specialist Paul Whelan appeared in court on Tuesday and his detention was extended



Former marine turned security specialist Paul Whelan appeared in court on Tuesday and his detention was extended.


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