MOSCOW. July 3 (Interfax) - The sentence on U.S. citizen Paul Whelan convicted of espionage in Russia took effect on Friday.
Moscow City Court press secretary Ulyana Solopova told Interfax on Thursday, "the sentence will enter into force on July 3, since the court has not registered either appeal petitions or an appeal representation so far."
Consistent with the Russian Criminal Procedure Code, "persons sentenced to incarceration shall be assigned to penitentiaries within ten days since the day the administration of the pretrial detention facility is informed about the sentence's entry into force."
Whelan's lawyers said, however, that convicts often stay in pretrial detention facilities much longer.
"I do not think that Whelan will be transferred in a hurry. I believe he will be staying in the pretrial detention facility until the question of his exchange is resolved," the convicted American's lawyer Vladimir Zherebenkov said.
The defense said earlier that Whelan would not appeal his sentence but would wait for being exchanged.
It is still an open question whether Whelan will file for pardon, the lawyers said.
Whelan, who earlier served in the U.S. Marine Corps, was detained in Moscow on December 28, 2018. It later emerged that he holds citizenships of three other countries, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Canada, in addition to U.S. one. The countries' embassies in Russia received requests for help from him. He was charged with espionage under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code and was facing between 10 and 20 years in jail.
Whelan denied any wrongdoing.
Whelan and his lawyers said initially they would appeal his sentence within the ten-day period prescribed by law. However, the defense team already had doubts about the appeal and said that they might not challenge the sentence in case of a decision to exchange Whelan for either of two Russians, Yaroshenko or Bout.
The Kremlin said that Whelan cannot be viewed as a "political hostage", as the charges brought against him were proven in court and accepted by the court.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on June 16 that Whelan is not on the lists for prisoner swaps between Russia and the U.S. "No, the exchange issue is being looked at from a different angle. Mr. Whelan is not being discussed as part of any such arrangements and swaps," Ryabkov said in response to the relevant question from Interfax.