Paul Whelan, a U.S. citizen recently convicted of espionage by a Russian court, maintained his innocence in a rare interview published Tuesday and predicted his prison sentence will be cut short.
Whelan, 50, a former Marine from Michigan, spoke to ABC News from a Russian prison camp in Mordovia about his case and incarceration in what the outlet called his first interview since his 2018 arrest.
“I don’t think I’ll be here that long – the governments will work it out quickly,” Whelan said, according to ABC.
“I think it’s a bit of an embarrassment for the Russian government because they’ve by now figured out that they’ve made a mistake,” he added, ABC reported. “I don’t think this is a situation they want going longer than it needs to.”
Whelan was arrested in Moscow in December 2018, and he was soon accused of espionage and later convicted during a closed trial that culminated in him being sentenced in June to 16 years imprisonment.
He told ABC that other inmates serving time at Correctional Colony-17 in Mordovia, a prison camp that dates to the Soviet era, agree his case is “complete crap” and call it “obviously political,” the network reported.
Russian government officials have previously asserted that Whelan was caught “red-handed” at the time of his arrest nearly two years ago.
Whelan’s supporters, including American diplomats at the U.S. State Department, have maintained he was denied a fair trial and have repeatedly called on Moscow for his release.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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