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A Russian court will consider a request to transfer an ex-US Marine to America after he was jailed for 16 years for 'spying.'
A lawyer for Paul Whelan, 50, said the hearing will take place in the city of Nizhny Novgorod on November 8.
Whelan, who holds American, British, Canadian and Irish passports, was jailed in June 2020 for allegedly stealing state secrets amid outcry in Washington after a closed-door trial with scant evidence produced in court.
He held up a sign saying 'Sham trial!' and 'Paul's life matters' as he was sentenced in Moscow.
The Kremlin claims Whelan was caught red-handed with a flash drive containing classified information, but throughout the trial he maintained his innocence, comparing himself to the hapless comedy character Mr Bean.
Paul Whelan held up a sign saying 'Sham trial!' and 'Paul's life matters' as he was sentenced in Moscow in June, 2020
Whelan (pictured with a Labrador) publicly declared himself the victim of 'an absurd political kidnapping' and appealed to President Trump to help him and to 'keep America great' by taking steps to secure his release
Prosecutors accused Whelan of being at least a ranking U.S. military intelligence colonel.
In June 2019, Whelan publicly declared himself the victim of 'an absurd political kidnapping' and appealed to President Trump to help him and to 'keep America great' by taking steps to secure his release.
'Mr. President, we cannot keep America great unless we aggressively protect and
