By Andrew Osborn
LONDON (Reuters) -Former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan was attacked by one other inmate in a Russian jail whereas serving a 16-year sentence on espionage fees, Russia’s jail service mentioned on Wednesday, after Whelan’s brother publicised the incident.
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow has been in telephone contact with Whelan, who American officers perceive is getting medical therapy after the incident, the State Division mentioned.
Whelan, who denies spying on Russia, was punched within the face and compelled to defend himself at a stitching workshop in a high-security penal colony in Russia’s Mordovia area southeast of Moscow, his brother Dave Whelan mentioned in an announcement.
“A brand new prisoner blocked a part of the manufacturing line and Paul requested him to maneuver out of the way in which. After repeated requests, the prisoner hit Paul within the face, breaking Paul’s glasses within the course of, and tried to hit him a second time,” Dave Whelan mentioned.
“Paul stood as much as block the second hit and different prisoners intervened to stop the prisoner persevering with the assault on Paul.”
Dave Whelan mentioned the incident happened on Tuesday afternoon. He thought his brother was a goal as a result of he was an American and anti-American sentiment was “not unusual among the many different prisoners,” he mentioned.
The U.S. State Division mentioned it was involved concerning the reported assault.
“We perceive he’s receiving medical therapy following this incident,” the division mentioned in an announcement, reiterating its name for Whelan’s launch and for the Russian authorities to make sure all U.S. residents detained in Russia are protected and receiving medical care.
President Vladimir Putin says Russia is locked in what he casts as an existential wrestle for a brand new world order with the U.S.-led West, which he accuses of eager to plunder his nation’s huge pure sources and to dismember it.
The Mordovia regional jail service confirmed to the Interfax information company that the assault on Whelan had occurred. It mentioned guards had taken rapid motion to cease “the unlawful actions.”
Each males had been taken to the medical bay, the place Whelan was discovered to have suffered an abrasion beneath one in all his eyes, it was cited as saying.
There was surveillance TV footage of the incident and the jail service was wanting into it additional earlier than submitting a report back to the police, Interfax reported.
It quoted an unnamed particular person “aware of the state of affairs” as saying that Whelan had been struck by “a convict from Turkey over political disagreements”.
Arrested in 2018 in Russia, Paul Whelan was convicted of espionage in 2020 and handed a 16-year sentence.
Whelan and the U.S. authorities have denied he’s a spy. Washington has designated him as “wrongfully detained” amid hypothesis that he and Evan Gershkovich, an American journalist accused of spying, will at some point be freed as a part of a prisoner trade between the 2 international locations.
Gershkovich, who on Tuesday had his pre-trial detention prolonged till the tip of January, denies the spying fees he faces.
(Reporting by Andrew Osborn; extra reporting by Susan Heavey; enhancing by Man Faulconbridge and Timothy Heritage)
