MOSCOW (AP) – A Russian court on Monday sentenced an American security executive to 16 years in prison on spying charges, a verdict that drew an angry response from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who denounced the man’s treatment by Russian authorities as “appalling.”
The Moscow City Court read out the conviction of Paul Whelan on charges of espionage and sentenced him to 16 years in a maximum security prison. The trial was held behind closed doors because authorities said that was needed for the trial to consider sensitive data.
Whelan has insisted on his innocence, saying he was set up. The 50-year-old corporate security executive and Marine Corps veteran from Novi, Michigan, was arrested in Moscow in December 2018 while he was in Russia to attend a friend’s wedding.
Speaking to reporters after the verdict, U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan denounced the secret trial in which no evidence was produced as an egregious violation of human rights and international legal norms. He described Whelan’s conviction as “a mockery of justice” and demanded his immediate release.
Pompeo said “the United States is outraged” by Whelan’s conviction “after a secret trial, with secret evidence, and without appropriate allowances for defense witnesses.”