NOVI (WWJ/AP) - Saturday marks one year since a metro Detroit man was arrested in Russia and accused of being a spy.
Paul Whelan was arrested at a Moscow hotel at the end of last year and charged with espionage. He faces 20 years in prison if convicted, but the case has yet to go to trial.
Whelan says he was in Moscow for a wedding, and denies being a spy. American officials have complained about the delay and say investigators have produced no evidence against Whelan, a Novi resident who also holds Canadian, British and Irish citizenship.
A U.S. diplomat on Monday visited Whelan and said he is in good condition mentally.
"Paul seems to be in reasonably good spirits," Bart Gorman, the US deputy chief of mission said. However, he said that Whelan's repeated requests to telephone his parents have gone unanswered. "We call on the Russian government to allow Paul to make a phone call to his mother and father for Christmas and the New Year."
Whelan's twin, David Whelan, told The Detroit News in an email that his brother's health has been deteriorating and that his life has “unraveled" as he became "collateral damage in the Russian Federation's geopolitical gamesmanship."
Whelan, 49, spent about a decade cultivating friends and contacts in Russia, building connections on a social media platform with men who have ties to the military. Several of them said Whelan never seemed sinister, merely someone with an interest in Russia and a desire for pen pals.