Title: A resolution calling on the Government of the Russian Federation to provide evidence or to release United States citizen Paul Whelan.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution implores Russia to present credible evidence of wrongdoing against U.S. citizen Paul Whelan or immediately release him. It also implores Russia to provide unrestricted consular access to Whelan and to ensure that he and all other political prisoners are afforded due process and universally recognized human rights.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 165 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 165

Calling on the Government of the Russian Federation to provide evidence 
            or to release United States citizen Paul Whelan.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 20, 2021

   Mr. Peters (for himself and Ms. Stabenow) submitted the following 
  resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Calling on the Government of the Russian Federation to provide evidence 
            or to release United States citizen Paul Whelan.

Whereas United States citizen Paul Whelan is a resident of Novi, Michigan, and a 
        United States Marine Corps veteran;
Whereas Paul Whelan traveled to Moscow for the wedding of a personal friend on 
        December 22, 2018;
Whereas Russia's Federal Security Service arrested Paul Whelan at the Metropol 
        Hotel in Moscow on December 28, 2018, and charged him with espionage;
Whereas the Federal Security Service has never provided any evidence of supposed 
        wrongdoing;
Whereas Paul Whelan was imprisoned in Lefortovo Prison and was held there for 
        more than 19 months after his arrest in pre-trial detention;
Whereas the Federal Security Service has not provided any evidence of supposed 
        wrongdoing;
Whereas a Moscow court extended Paul Whelan's pre-trial detention multiple times 
        without publicly presenting justification or evidence of wrongdoing;
Whereas even Paul Whelan's Federal Security Service-appointed lawyer, Vladimir 
        Zherebenkov, said on May 24, 2019, ``[The Federal Security Service] 
        always roll[s] out what they have, but in this case, we've seen nothing 
        concrete against Whelan in five months. That means there is nothing.'';
Whereas the then United States Ambassador to the Russian Federation, Jon 
        Huntsman, responded on April 12, 2019, to a question about the detention 
        of Paul Whelan, ``If the Russians have evidence, they should bring it 
        forward. We have seen nothing. If there was a case, I think the evidence 
        would have been brought forward by now.'';
Whereas then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Russian Foreign Minister 
        Sergey Lavrov on May 14, 2019, and urged him to ensure United States 
        citizens are not unjustly held abroad;
Whereas the Kremlin has refused Paul Whelan full access to his lawyer and the 
        so-called evidence against him, and any evidence he has seen is in 
        Russian, a language Paul does not read or speak;
Whereas Lefortovo pre-trial detention facility and the Ministry of Foreign 
        Affairs refused to provide medical treatment for Paul Whelan's medical 
        condition, despite being aware of its worsening state, resulting in 
        emergency surgery on May 29, 2020;
Whereas Paul Whelan was wrongfully convicted on June 15, 2020, and sentenced to 
        16 years in a Russian labor camp by a three-judge panel, in a trial 
        witnessed by United States Ambassador John Sullivan, who referred to it 
        as ``a mockery of justice'' due to the denial of a fair trial and the 
        exclusion of defense witnesses;
Whereas, in August 2020, on an unknown day because he was moved secretly, Paul 
        Whelan was transferred to camp IK-17, a penal labor camp in Mordovia, 
        where he is forced to work 6 days a week in a garment factory;
Whereas Ambassador John Sullivan, while visiting Paul Whelan at the labor camp 
        in Mordovia, stated that ``Russian authorities . . . have never shown 
        the world evidence of his guilt,'' and reiterated his call that the 
        Russian authorities correct this injustice and release Mr. Whelan; and
Whereas Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Russian Foreign Minister 
        Sergei Lavrov on February 4, 2021, and urged him to release Americans 
        detained in Russia, including Paul Whelan and Trevor Reed, so that they 
        are able to return home to their families in the United States: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) implores the Government of the Russian Federation 
        present credible evidence on the allegations against Paul 
        Whelan or immediately release him from imprisonment;
            (2) implores the Government of the Russian Federation 
        comply with its international treaty obligations and provide 
        unrestricted consular access to Paul Whelan while he remains 
        imprisoned in Russia;
            (3) calls on the Government of the Russian Federation to 
        provide Paul Whelan and all other political prisoners their 
        constitutionally afforded due process rights and universally 
        recognized human rights; and
            (4) expresses sympathy to the family of Paul Whelan for 
        this travesty to justice and personal hardship, and expresses 
        hope that their ordeal can soon be brought to a just end.
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