A Russian court has sentenced previous US marine Paul Whelan to 16 years in jail after discovering him guilty of spying for the United States in a closed trial which diplomats said was unfair and opaque.
Key points:
- Russian authorities state Whelan was caught with classified information on a computer system drive
- Whelan claims he believed the drive consisted of vacation images from an associate
- The United States ambassador to Russia states he is ‘annoyed’ by the choice
Whelan, who holds US, British, Canadian and Irish passports, has remained in custody since he was detained by representatives from Russia’s Federal Security Service in a Moscow hotel ro