March 18th, 2021

Paul Whelan

Over 800 days have passed and the family of Paul Whelan continue to fight endlessly to get him back home. On December 28, 2018 the 51-year-old resident of Michigan was illegally arrested by the Russian Federal Security Service under trumped-up charges of espionage. Paul Whelan has denied the charges and US officials have condemned his sentencing. John Sullivan, US ambassador to Moscow, recently stated in an interview with BBC news “I’d like nothing more than to...pick up Paul, give him a hug and send him home to Michigan,”. Sullivan has condemned the whole spy case as “outrageous” and Paul believes Russia has detained him in order to do a prisoner swap. 

Paul was born in Canada to British parents of Irish descent. In the early 1970’s he moved to the US with his family and served as a police officer in his community. He continued to serve his community by enlisting in the U.S. Marine Reserves. Upon finishing his service, he worked as a global security director for an auto parts supplier. One activity Paul loved to do was travel. He always enjoyed traveling around the world and making friends along the way. One friend in particular that he made was Ilya Yatsenko, whom he met while traveling to Russia. Paul stayed with Yatsenko in his family home and built a close friendship with him. Paul’s recent visit to Russia was due to a friend’s wedding that he got invited to. As he was preparing to go to the wedding on December 28, 2018, Yatsenko invited himself over and said he wanted to deliver a flash drive containing holiday photos and videos he wanted to show Paul. Paul did not think much of it but then moments after Yatsenko delivered the flashdrive, Russia’s security agents burst into the room, grabbed Paul, and pinned him down. They detained him for being in possession of the flashdrive which they claimed had classified information. His family learned of his disappearance 3 days later through a Reuters article that Paul’s twin brother came across. Paul was held in Lefortovo prison, one of Moscow's most notorious prisons, for 18 months. There, he was interrogated multiple times in the middle of the night to try and pressure him into a confession however Paul refused to plead guilty to a crime he did not commit. To this day, Russia has not provided any credible evidence against Paul but he is now serving a 16-year sentence at a prison camp doing forced labor. 

Paul is not the only one that is having his freedom stripped away from him; we spoke with Elizabeth Whelan, Paul’s sister, and she explained how she and the rest of her family are also feeling imprisoned. Their lives have been altered to revolve around doing whatever it takes to free their brother. The family is undergoing emotional turmoil and money is getting tight. They are doing all they can to stay afloat at home while still setting money aside to send to Paul so he can buy toiletries and food at the prison, basic everyday needs that are not available to Paul. Like many other hostage stories, it's the family that is holding the heavy weight on their shoulders. Among worrying about the financial expense of it all, they also need to think about how to get their story heard by the right people that will help. The family has documented every significant update that has happened since Paul got detained. To learn more about Paul Whelan, visit www.FreePaulWhelan.com.