Paul Whelan’s family fears Trump administration letting him 'languish' in Russian prison

WASHINGTON – Paul Whelan hasn’t received a presidential tweet, sparked a punishing tariff or provoked a diplomatic stand-off.

Now, more than six weeks after the 49-year-old Michigan man’s arrest in Russia, Whelan’s family fears the State Department is neglecting his case and leaving him to “languish” in a 19th Century Moscow prison that once was used for mass torture.

There’s “no evidence” the State Department is actively engaged in “in trying to figure out how to bring him home,” Whelan’s twin brother, David Whelan, told USA TODAY.  

State Department officials in Washington have told the family that “the circumstances and details” of his brother’s arrest are still not clear, Whelan said. That has limited the State Department’s ability to bring all its resources to bear on securing his release, he said.

"It has been six weeks since Secretary of State Pompeo said the U.S. 'would learn more about the charges'," Whelan said. He said the family has received excellent assistance from U.S. embassy officials in Russia, but "I'm not aware that the State Department has taken any action to find out information about Paul's arrest nor whether, if they have, they've received anything."

Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth Whelan, has set up a temporary one-woman lobbying operation in Washington – traveling to and from her home in Massachusetts nearly every week so she can press members of Congress on her brother’s detention. The family said lawmakers have been helpful, but it’s unclear how much they can do to secure his release.

Whelan was arrested in a Moscow hotel room on Dec. 28 and charged with spying. Russian-controlled media outlets have reported that Whelan met with a Russian citizen who gave him a USB drive with classified Russian intelligence information.

American experts say Whelan does not fit the profile of a spy, and the account of his arrest sounds like he was set up by Russian authorities. Whelan’s family says that he was in Moscow for a friend's wedding and is innocent.

David Whelan said the Russian attorney representing him in the case was appointed by Kremlin intelligence officials.

President Donald Trump has taken a keen interest in other U.S. detainee cases, tweeting about their plights and threatening foreign leaders over their detentions. Trump slapped tariffs on Turkey over its imprisonment of Andrew Brunson, a Christian missionary released last fall. 

State Department spokesman Robert Palladino noted last week that U.S. embassy officials in Russia have visited Paul Whelan twice in Moscow's Lefortovo prison and attended his first court hearing on Jan. 22, when he was denied bail and confined to a metal-reinforced cage during the proceedings. 

“We remain in contact with the Whelan family,” Palladino told reporters last week. “We take seriously our right to visit detained American citizens regularly and to ensure that they receive humane treatment and access to medical care as one of our highest priorities at the State Department.”

Palladino said the U.S. was coordinating with other countries to get consular access to Whelan, who grew up in Michigan but also holds United Kingdom, Irish and Canadian citizenship. Whelan, who was born in Canada to British parents, works as the director of global security for a Michigan-based auto parts supplier, BorgWarner. He is not married and lives in Novi, northwest of Detroit. Whelan's parents also still live in Michigan. 

Rob Saale, who led U.S. hostage release efforts in the early part of the Trump administration, said the State Department may not have the resources it needs to deal with cases like Whelan’s – in which a foreign government has acknowledged detaining an American citizen. (Other detainee cases, such as terrorist kidnappings or unacknowledged foreign detentions, spark a higher level of response from the U.S. government.)

“There are thousands upon thousands of Americans that are taken into custody by foreign law enforcement (or) foreign governments throughout the course of the year,” Saale said. “At what point do you separate a case like Paul Whelan’s from someone who went to Tijuana and got drunk” and is now in a Mexican jail, he asked.

In both cases, families have the same demands and expectations for assistance from the State Department, Saale said, but “it is sort of comparing apples and oranges.” He said State Department officials may be doing the best they can given the limited authority and resources they have to handle such cases.

Palladino and other State Department officials are constrained in what they can say publicly about Whelan’s situation – and that’s part of the family’s frustration. Because of stalling by Russian authorities, Paul Whelan only signed a privacy waiver last week that will allow American officials to speak to the media about his situation and the charges against him.

And then, the Russians would not let Whelan return the document to U.S. embassy officials during a Feb. 5 visit – instead forcing him to mail the form back to the embassy.

“Now that Paul's been able to sign – although he has to mail the form, because the Russians wouldn't allow him to hand it to the embassy staff – we are hopeful this will allow more information flow on Paul's case,” Whelan said in an email to USA TODAY.

But in the meantime, the Russian government has put a “stranglehold on information about Paul’s case” and blocked him from choosing his own attorney as he battles espionage charges in a Moscow court, Whelan said. “The bigger picture is that any American who is detained anywhere could find themselves in a similar position.”