WASHINGTON — For the second time this year, the family of Michigan's Paul Whelan was left "devastated" that Russia agreed to swap an American prisoner for the return of a Russian inmate, and that, again, that American wasn't Paul.
"It's disappointing. We were aware that there was a 50-50 chance, and, unfortunately, it broke that way," Whelan's brother, David, told The Detroit News.
Paul Whelan, 52, of Novi has been held by Russia for nearly four years since his arrest at a Moscow hotel in December 2018 and later convicted on espionage charges that he's vehemently denied, claiming entrapment. The U.S. government deemed his detention "wrongful" and has pressed for his release from a 16-year sentence of hard labor.
