On his sign, looking straight at the judge, he said everything in writing : “A travesty of trials! " Paul Whelan, a 50-year-old American, was sentenced to sixteen years in prison on Monday June 15 for spying for the United States by a Moscow court. The former navy, who also has British, Canadian and Irish nationalities, was arrested on December 28, 2018 in the prestigious Moscow hotel Metropol, the beginning of a case seemingly sewn with white thread. "They thought they were stopping a James Bond on a mission when they kidnapped a Mister Bean on vacation", quipped Paul Whelan in the trial which, since March 23, has been in camera. Reason invoked by the judge: the sensitive nature of the information in the file.
Security services say Paul Whelan was caught "In the act of spying" : the accused had in his possession a USB key with classified information. A set up, he defended himself. This former American soldier, who often went to Moscow, claims to have come there for a wedding. Security director of BorgWarner, an international manufacturer of auto parts, he had made many contacts with Russians, professional and personal. He was one of them who gave him the USB stick. Paul Whelan thought it contained photographs from a previous stay.
The trial did little to shed light on the merits of the case. The prosecutor is satisfied, according to the hearing of counsel for Paul Whelan's lawyer, that he is "An officer, at least a colonel, of the United States Defense Intelligence Agency." Very mobilized on this case, the American ambassador in Moscow, John Sullivan, denounced a lawsuit "Unfair and not very transparent where no proof has been produced". After the conviction, he signed up "Consult the US government and Mike Pompeo". Last month, the US secretary of state called for the release of Paul Whelan. As soon as the verdict was announced, the convict appealed to Donald Trump for the President to intervene on his behalf.
"The atmosphere of the Stalin years"
From the start, the affair has been all the more political in that it has added to the long list of subjects of tension between Moscow and Washington. "It is a demonstration, once again, of the radicalization of the Russian special services in their fight against" enemies ". It recreates the atmosphere of the Stalin years, denounces Andreï Kolesnikov, political scientist at the Carnegie center in Moscow. The Whelan case can be used politically by Vladimir Putin's Kremlin. On the domestic scene, to mobilize the electorate on the eve of the constitutional vote of 1er July. On the outside scene, with a new argument to exploit in his relationship with Donald Trump. "
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