NIZHNY NOVGOROD. Nov 8 (Interfax) - U.S. citizen Paul Whelan was convicted in Russia for trying to receive information about students of a Border Service institute of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), prosecutor Sergei Lukoyanov from the Russian Prosecutor General's Office said.
"Let me explain why Whelan was convicted. It was established that he, an officer of the intelligence service of the U.S. Department of Defense, was trying to receive information about students of a higher educational establishment of Russia's FSB and was detained by state security officers," Lukoyanov said at a court hearing in Nizhny Novgorod.
Meanwhile, Whelan's lawyer Vladimir Zherebenkov told Interfax that these were students of a higher educational establishment of the Border Service.
"Pardon me, but Mr. Whelan hasn't been convicted of pickpocketing, he has been convicted of a grave felony, spying for a foreign state," Lukoyanov said.
The Fourth Appeal Court of General Jurisdiction found the Supreme Court of Mordovia's refusal to process a motion for Whelan's transfer to the United States to serve his remaining time lawful on Monday.
On June 15, 2020, the Moscow City Court sentenced Whelan, a citizen of the United States, Ireland, Canada, and the United Kingdom, to 16 years in a high-security penitentiary on counts of espionage. Whelan pleaded not guilty, but did not appeal the sentence, as he was hoping he would be transferred to the United States or exchanged.
He is now serving time in High-Security Penitentiary No. 17 in Mordovia.