Was Paul Whelan Dishonorably Discharged From the Marines? He Was Released From Russia in Prisoner Swap
Whelan had been sentenced to 16 years of hard labor in Russia after being accused of espionage.
Published Aug. 1 2024, 2:56 p.m. ET
You likely recall the news from back in 2022 when WNBA star Brittney Griner was detained at an airport in Russia while she was on her way back home to the U.S. The basketball player had been in possession of medical marijuana, which she'd been prescribed for the chronic pain from her sports injuries, but because of the country's cannabis laws, she was sentenced to nine years in a Russian labor camp.
She was released after 10 months behind bars in an exchange brokered between the U.S. and Russia, in which Griner was swapped for a Russian arms dealer named Viktor Bout, who had been serving time at an Illinois federal prison on terrorism charges.
But at the same time that this exchange was making headlines, Paul Whelan's loved ones were wondering if and when the former U.S. Marine — who had been detained in Russia in 2018 on espionage charges — would be coming home too.
Paul Whelan stands inside a defendants' cage as he waits to hear his verdict in Moscow on June 15, 2020.
Was Paul Whelan dishonorably discharged from the Marines?
Paul Whelan was finally released in August 2024, in another exchange between the U.S., Russia, and other countries, this time involving 24 detainees — including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who'd been detained in Russia since 2023.
During the nearly six years that Whelan — who'd been sentenced to 16 years of hard labor — was detained, critics were vocal about the U.S.'s failure to bring him back home, with many people appalled that the government couldn't do more for a veteran who had served his country. Whelan had enlisted in the Marine Corps back in 1994 and served for 14 years, which saw him on two deployments to Iraq, per the Washington Post.
But around the same time that folks were criticizing the government's handling of a detained veteran, there were also reports circulating that Whelan had been discharged from the Marines. Indeed, as the Washington Post confirmed, Whelan had been convicted in a military court in 2008 on charges of larceny, which resulted in a bad-conduct discharge.
For some folks, this led to conflicted feelings about whether or not they consider Whelan a Marine. "Happy for his family, but don't call him a proud serviceman," one person tweeted after the news of his release was reported.
"It’s great that Paul Whelan — a citizen of the U.S., Great Britain, Canada, and Ireland — is being released, but portraying him as a Marine is inaccurate," tweeted another.
