Washington D.C. – CNN, July 19, 2024
“I’m sympathetic and empathetic to him and his family because I understand what they’re going through and my family certainly understands what they’re going through,” the ex-Marine continued. “It’s something that you just can’t fathom, especially if you’re a tourist or like Evan, he was just doing his job, and you end up in a cage, in a courtroom, being told that you have to spend 16 years of hard labor.”
However, Whelan expressed hope that the speed with which the Russian government carried out the trial, which was decried as a sham, and sentencing could signal that Moscow is open to moving forward on negotiations to bring them both home.
