(NewsNation) — Paul Whelan, the former U.S. Marine who has been wrongfully imprisoned in Russia since 2018, was attacked by a prisoner earlier this week. His family said they are concerned about his safety, saying this attack has potentially put a new target on his back for future assaults.
On Tuesday, Paul Whelan was in a workshop when he asked a relatively new prisoner to move out of the way, his family said. The prisoner punched him in the face, breaking his glasses.
His twin brother, David Whelan, said Paul Whelan was about to make a phone call to their parents and described what had happened. From there, the Whelan family passed that information along to the State Department because officials there weren’t aware of the problem at the time.
Paul Whelan has previously endured violence when he was in pretrial detention in Moscow at the hands of a guard who was later reprimanded for that. He has also endured verbal abuse at the labor camp that he’s currently at.
However, this was the first physical attack he has endured, David Whelan said.
“He’s in a very dangerous position,” David Whelan said.
Paul Whelan works in a sewing workshop, where they have shears for cutting fabric as well as metal chips for cutting strings or threads off of clothes, his brother explained.
“If the anti-American sentiment — which the Kremlin has been encouraging — flows down into the prison and causes a prisoner to attack Paul, there aren’t any guards in the sewing workshop. He’s really at the mercy of whatever the other prisoners want to do,” David Whelan said.
While the workshop might not have guards present, Paul Whelan does have some prisoners there that he is friendly with. Those prisoners actually stepped in after the attacking inmate threw a second swing at Paul Whelan and separated the two. Following the separation, he went to get medical care.
But David Whelan doesn’t think this specific incident will cause the State Department to focus any more attention on his brother’s situation than they are now. He did say, however, that the State Department did act promptly when informed about the assault, talking to Paul Whelan directly.
