Moscow, May 24 (Sputnik/UNI) The Lefortovsky District Court in Moscow ruled on Friday to extend the arrest of US citizen Paul Whelan, who is kept in Russian custody on espionage suspicions, until August 29, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the courtroom.
"To extend defendant Whelan's detention measure for three months, until August 29, 2019," judge Sergey Ryabtsev read out the court's decision.
Whelan, who is also a citizen of Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom, was arrested in Russia in December on charges of espionage. Whelan denies the charges and insists he came to Russia to attend a friend’s wedding.
If convicted, Whelan faces up to 20 years in prison. Russian officials have so far not released details with respect to the charges against Whelan.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
