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Moscow court upholds decision on remanding suspected US spy in custody

The appeal was considered behind closed doors as the case contains classified data

Paul Whelan Sergei Savostyanov/TASS

Paul Whelan

© Sergei Savostyanov/TASS

MOSCOW, January 22. /TASS/. The Moscow City Court on Tuesday upheld a decision on remanding in custody US national Paul Whelan, suspected of espionage in Russia, a TASS correspondent reported.

"The ruling of the first instance court on choosing custody for Whelan as a pre-trial restriction measure should remain unchanged, the lawyer’s appeal should not be satisfied," the judge said.

According to the ruling, the lawyer had asked to release Whelan on bail. The court considered the appeal behind closed doors as the case contains classified data. The judge declared only the decision, which does not include the motives.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Paul Whelan was detained in Moscow "while he was on a spy mission." The FSB Investigative Department opened a criminal case under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code (espionage), which carries a punishment of 10 to 20 years in prison. Whelan holds citizenship of the US, UK, Ireland and Canada. In early January, US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman visited Whelan at the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center.

Whelan, 48, is corporate security director for US automotive parts supplier BorgWarner. According to the Washington Post, he enlisted in the US Marines in 1994 and "rose through the ranks to become a staff sergeant, serving two tours in Iraq, in 2004 and 2006." However, Whelan "was discharged for bad conduct in 2008 after being convicted of several charges related to larceny.".

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