Russian Justice Ministry To Prepare Documents To Consider Petition For Whelan Deportation

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th September, 2021) The Russian Ministry of Justice said on Tuesday that it would cooperate with the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) to prepare documents for consideration of the petition that lawyers of US citizen Paul Whelan, convicted for espionage in Russia, filed for his deportation to the United States.

Earlier in the day, the supreme court in Russia's Mordovia (where Whelan is serving his sentence) refused to consider the petition and sent it to the justice ministry for collecting more information "for preliminary coordination with the respective US bodies on the transfer of the convict." Whelan's lawyer, Vladimir Zherebenkov, explained to Sputnik that the ministry should find out if the US is willing to accept his client and if he will serve his sentence there.

"The Russian Ministry of Justice has not yet received a petition of the convict or his representatives, or a competent US agency, and a copy of the decree of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Mordovia, which has already entered legal force. When the justice ministry receives this, FSIN will prepare materials necessary for consideration of the case on the merits, provided for by the convention (the 1983 Russian-US convention on transfer of sentenced persons)," the Russian Ministry of Justice said in a statement.