Haley Stevens continues push for Paul Whelan’s release from Russian prison

Members of Congress are continuing to call for the release of Americans wrongfully detained in Russian prisons.

On Thursday, U.S. Reps. Haley Stevens (MI-11) and August Pfluger (TX-11 ) held a press conference Thursday with family members of Paul Whelan, a Michigan native, and Trevor Reed, a Texas native, as well as members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Whelan, 51, a Novi resident, traveled to Moscow in December 2019 to attend a wedding of a personal friend. On Dec. 28, he was arrested by Russia’s Federal Security Service at the Metropol Hotel in Moscow who later charged him with espionage. Even though prosecutors never presented any evidence to prove his alleged wrongdoing, Whelan was sentenced on June 15, 2020 to 16 years in a Mordovian labor camp.

“Today marks 944 days since my constituent, Paul Whelan, has been wrongfully detained in Russia,” she said. “That’s 944 days that he has been away from his friends, his family, a comfortable bed, and his community in Novi, Michigan. It’s 944 days too long. He’s being held in a prison camp where he has been since August 2020 following a complete sham of a trial where they didn’t have the evidence.”

Stevens said that Whelan is holding up the best he can “under the circumstances.” She added that Whelan is being held “on false charges.”

“It has been my mission to see Paul come home to Michigan and be reunited with his family,” she said. “We must stand up and make it clear that American citizens will not be used as political pawns for other countries. Period. End of story. Paul, if you are watching this, know that I am praying for you, I am rooting for you and I will never stop fighting for you.”