Calling on the Government of the Russian Federation to Immediately Release United States Citizen Paul Whelan
Floor Speech
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Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 272) calling on the Government of the Russian Federation to immediately release United States citizen Paul Whelan.
The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
The text of the resolution is as follows: H. Res. 272
Whereas United States citizen Paul Whelan is a resident of Novi, Michigan, and a veteran of the Marine Corps;
Whereas, on December 22, 2018, Paul Whelan traveled to Moscow, Russia, for the wedding of a personal friend;
Whereas, on December 28, 2018, the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation arrested Paul Whelan at the Metropol Hotel in Moscow and charged him with espionage;
Whereas the Federal Security Service has never provided any evidence of supposed wrongdoing with respect to Paul Whelan;
Whereas Paul Whelan was imprisoned in Lefortovo Prison and was held in pretrial detention at the prison for more than 19 months after his arrest;
Whereas a Moscow court extended Paul Whelan's pretrial detention multiple times without publicly presenting justification or evidence of wrongdoing;
Whereas even Vladimir Zherebenkov, the lawyer appointed by the Federal Security Service to represent Paul Whelan, 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 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 to provide Paul Whelan with full access to his lawyer, and the so-called evidence against Paul Whelan and any evidence he has seen is in Russian, a language Whelan does not read or speak;
Whereas the Lefortovo pretrial 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 the trial 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, Paul Whelan was secretly transferred to camp IK-17, a penal labor camp in Mordovia, Russia, 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 for the Russian authorities to correct this injustice and release Paul Whelan;
Whereas Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on February 4, 2021, and urged him to release United States citizens detained in the Russian Federation, including Paul Whelan and Trevor Reed, so that they are able to return home to their families in the United States;
Whereas, in August 2021, Whelan was released from a month- long stay in a solitary confinement at the IK-17 penal colony in the region of Mordovia;
Whereas, on April 27, 2022, the House of Representatives unanimously passed a bipartisan resolution calling for the release of Whelan;
Whereas Secretary Blinken ``pressed'' the Kremlin to accept an offer by the United States that would bring Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner home in July 2022;
Whereas, in November 2022, Paul Whelan was unable to contact his family for more than a week, during which time Russian authorities claimed Whelan had been sent to the hospital;
Whereas Russian authorities refused to release Paul Whelan as part of the prisoner exchange in December 2022;
Whereas Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated, ``His detention remains unacceptable, and we continue to press for his immediate release at every opportunity''; and
Whereas President Biden stated that his administration had ``not forgotten about Paul Whelan,'' and promised to ``keep negotiating in good faith for his release'': Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) implores the Government of the Russian Federation to immediately release Paul Whelan from imprisonment;
(2) implores the Government of the Russian Federation to comply with international treaty obligations and provide unrestricted consular access to Paul Whelan while he remains imprisoned in the Russian Federation;
(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;
(4) expresses the sincere thanks of the United States to the Governments of Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom for their support in attempting to release Paul Whelan; and
(5) 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.
Mr. Speaker, on December 28, 2018, U.S. citizen and Marine Corps veteran Paul Whelan was wrongfully arrested in Moscow and charged with espionage.
This is just one of the many examples where an American is used as a political pawn by the Kremlin--where they disguise hostility and human rights abuses as justice. Paul was held in pretrial detention for 19 months, and on June 15, 2020, he was sentenced to 16 years in a Russian labor camp.
Paul was never provided with any real evidence of guilt. Defense witnesses were excluded. He was denied a fair trial, including the opportunity to defend himself properly or even communicate with his family.
Last month, on May 16, Paul reached day 1,600 of illegally being held hostage in the Russian Federation for a crime he did not commit.
Mr. Speaker, Paul is innocent, yet he remains behind bars to this day. Since his illegal incarceration, Paul has not received adequate medical care and has been denied regular access to his attorney. He has been designated as ``wrongfully detained'' by the U.S. Department of State. U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan accurately described Paul's wrongful conviction as ``a mockery of justice.''
Make no mistake, there is no such thing as justice in a country that is controlled by a despot. This resolution shows that we have not forgotten, and we will never forget Paul, and that we will keep advocating for his immediate release.
The U.S. Congress will not sit by as Americans are held hostage by the war criminal in the Kremlin. We will not rest until Paul and every wrongfully detained American is home safely with their families.
During consideration of the prior measure, we discussed Russia's wrongful detention of the Wall Street reporter, Evan Gershkovich.
Another politically motivated imprisonment I must mention is Vladimir Kara-Murza, a legal U.S. permanent resident twice poisoned by the Kremlin. He is a relentless advocate for democracy and human rights and was recently sentenced to 25 years in prison for his criticism of Russia's war in Ukraine.
Sadly, this is what happens when you contradict the state-run media in a totalitarian state. His reward for pursuing the truth and standing up, exposing Putin's brutality and corruption, was imprisonment.
The vengeance of the Kremlin knows no bounds.
Putin must stop using Cold War tactics to target innocent Americans as diplomatic pawns. I call for the immediate release of all Americans wrongfully detained abroad.
I strongly urge my colleagues to support this resolution so Paul and his family know that the United States Congress stands with them with one voice, Republican and Democrat, chairman and ranking member, and will do everything in our power to make sure that Paul is returned safely to his home and to his family.
Mr. Speaker, I first thank Ranking Member Meeks for his support. We do speak with one voice, as one Nation, against this hostage taking by foreign nation adversaries.
I thank Representative Stevens for her passion on this issue and for introducing this resolution and being a co-chair of that important caucus. I also thank my dear friend, Mrs. Dingell, who represents the family and, obviously, the passion of the family. I can only imagine what it must feel like to have your son, family member, detained in one of the worst prisons in the world.
This happens too often. We are seeing this trend way too often now. It is not just Russia; it is China and Iran and Venezuela. It is a disturbing trend, Mr. Speaker, to take Americans hostage and hold them as political pawns for either a change of policy or an exchange of a prisoner that has no relation to the offense of the American. You can't tell me that what happened to Brittney Griner, whose offense was so meager, the idea she had some sort of small amount of--whatever it was, a vape pipe, and then in exchange, a major Russian arms dealer. But that is what they do and that is what they want.
We need to stop this, and we need to provide the deterrence to stop this. The world continues to watch in horror as Vladimir Putin's crimes and atrocities in Ukraine continue. That is a lot of what this is all about. Paul Whelan is a marine. Evan is a Wall Street Journal reporter.
Just reporting the truth gets you thrown in prison in Russia. What were they reporting about? The indiscriminate bombing and killing of civilians, to the mass graves I saw in Bucha, to torture chambers, to mobile crematoriums. Think about that, Mr. Speaker. We haven't heard about something like that in quite some time, probably since my father's generation and my father's war.
What we are witnessing today is a genocide. If you rise up in protest or report the truth, you will be put in prison. I condemn this aggression in the strongest possible terms. I, along with the other Members on both sides of the aisle, will continue to fight to hold these perpetrators accountable.
We must also condemn the Russian dictator's practice of exploiting them as political pawns. As I have said, it has happened way too often. It is time to get Paul out of this Russian gulag, which is what it is, and back to his family in Michigan.
Today, all of us stand in this body with one voice, united as Americans, in condemning Russia's illegal detention of Paul Whelan. Congress will not rest.
As Congresswoman Stevens said to Mr. Putin, if he is watching this, and to Paul Whelan, if he has the opportunity to watch this, we want them to know that we here in Congress will not rest until all Americans wrongfully detained in Russia are returned to their families.
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