[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 162 (Tuesday, October 3, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S4919]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CALLING ON THE GOVERNMENT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION TO RELEASE UNITED
STATES CITIZEN PAUL WHELAN
Mr. REED. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate
proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 96, S. Res. 156.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 156) calling on the Government of the
Russian Federation to release United States citizen Paul
Whelan.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the
resolution, which had been reported from the Committee on Foreign
Relations with an amendment to strike all after the resolving clause
and insert the part printed in italic, and with an amendment to the
preamble to strike the preamble and insert the part printed in italic,
as follows:
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 then-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 then-Ambassador John Sullivan, while visiting Paul
Whelan in September 2020 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, on July 23, 2021, the Senate unanimously passed a
bipartisan resolution calling for Whelan's release;
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 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 prisoner exchanges for Trevor Reed and Brittney
Griner;
Whereas Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that
Whelan's ``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 Senate--
[(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.]
That the Senate--
(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
(4) expresses sympathy to the family of Paul Whelan for
this travesty of justice and personal hardship and expresses
hope that Whelan will soon be returned home.
Mr. REED. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the committee-
reported substitute amendment to the resolution be agreed to; that the
resolution, as amended, be agreed to; that the committee-reported
amendment to the preamble be agreed to; that the preamble, as amended,
be agreed to; and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and
laid upon the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The committee-reported amendment in the nature of a substitute was
agreed to.
The resolution (S. Res. 156), as amended, was agreed to.
The committee-reported amendment to the preamble was agreed to.
The preamble, as amended, was agreed to.
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