U.S. House calls on Russia to release Novi resident Paul Whelan

The U.S. House unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday calling on Russia to release Paul Whelan, a Novi resident who has been locked up since December 2018 on espionage charges.

Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, has repeatedly maintained his innocence.

He was sentenced to 16 years in prison during a June 2020 trial that American officials have called unfair.

“Today, we stood together as a Congress to denounce Paul’s wrongful imprisonment by Vladimir Putin and his Kremlin regime,” Rep. Haley Haley Stevens, D-Wateford Township, said in a statement. “In the nearly four years since Paul’s detention, we have seen (Russian President) Vladimir Putin further isolate himself on the world stage as his government has dissolved into one of lawlessness, leading through threats and violence. We must stand up and make it clear that American citizens will not be used as political pawns by Putin.”

The resolution comes on the same day news broke that another former U.S. Marine, Trevor Reed, was released from a Russian prison as part of a swap for a convicted Russian drug trafficker who has been locked up America.