Watchdog

Former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, sentenced to 16 years on espionage charges that he rejects, has been transferred to a penal colony in the region of Mordovia, historically known for Russia's toughest prisons, including Soviet-era labor camps for political prisoners.

Whelan's lawyer, Olga Karlova, told TASS news agency on August 4 that her client had left the Lefortovo detention center in Moscow and was currently being transferred to a Mordovian penal colony.

Karlova said she had received the information from Whelan’s brother David, who had been informed by the British Embassy.

Whelan holds U.S., Canadian, British, and Irish passports.

Karlova added that Lefortovo officials refused to comment.

The U.S. Embassy in Moscow said it was aware of the reports of Whelan's transfer but had not yet received official notification.

"We continue to press Russian authorities for fair & humane treatment of #PaulWhelan, & regular contact with US consular officials," Rebecca Ross, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy, said in an August 4 tweet.

Valery Krutov, chairman of the Mordovia branch of the Public Monitoring Commission rights group, said on August 4 that Whelan was expected to arrive at Correctional Colony No. 18 in Mordovia in the coming days. He will be transferred several days later to Correctional Colony No. 17 to serve his term.

Whelan's relatives and lawyers said earlier that the ex-U.S. Marine will most likely be held in Lefortovo for a longer time, as it was expected that he may be exchanged for Russian nationals held in the United States in September.

Reports in June said that Russian and U.S. officials were in talks on a possible swap of Whelan for two Russians -- Viktor Bout and Konstantin Yaroshenko -- who are serving lengthy sentences in U.S. prisons.

The notorious system of correctional colonies in Mordovia, established as part of the gulag system in the 1930s, is known as one of the toughest in the former Soviet Union.

Also, the process of transferring convicts in Russia can last for weeks. The process, known as "etap," involves trains specially designed for convicts stopping in transit jails and prisons. Convicts traveling in such trains stay in crowded caged compartments with almost no access to fresh air, no shower, and limited access to the toilet and food for days or weeks.

The Moscow City Court convicted and sentenced Whelan to 16 years on June 15 after a trial that was held behind closed doors because the evidence included classified materials and because of measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

The United States has called the proceedings a "mockery of justice" and demanded Whelan's immediate release.

Russia's Foreign Ministry has rejected claims about the "unfairness and excessive harshness" of the sentence.

The 50-year-old Whelan was arrested in Moscow in December 2018.

Russian prosecutors claimed that a flash memory stick found in his possession contained classified information.

Whelan says he was framed when he took the memory stick from an acquaintance, thinking it contained holiday photos. He has also accused his prison guards of mistreatment.

Whelan was head of global security at a U.S. auto-parts supplier at the time of his arrest. He and his relatives insist he visited Russia to attend a wedding.

Before the verdict, U.S. officials had urged Moscow to release Whelan following their criticism of Russian authorities for their "shameful treatment" of him.

With reporting by Interfax and TASS

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- An activist in Kazakhstan has been jailed after staging a one-man protest outside the Chinese consulate in Almaty over recent statements on Chinese-Kazakh military cooperation made by Chinese Ambassador Zhang Xiao.

A court in Almaty late on August 3 found Serik Azhibai guilty on charges of staging an unapproved public event and disobeying police orders. He was sentenced to 15 days in jail.

Azhibai pleaded not guilty, arguing that Kazakh laws allow an individual to hold a single-person protest without first obtaining permission from authorities. Azihibai also told the court that he has a right to express his opinion freely.

Azhibai was detained earlier on August 3 in front of the Chinese consulate. He was holding a protest sign reading: "Ambassadors bring reconciliation, enemies bring discord! Get out of the country!"

Before his arrest, Azhibai said he was protesting remarks by Ambassador Zhang in an interview with Chinese media last week.

According to Azhibai, who is fluent in Chinese, the ambassador had said that China and Kazakhstan would send troops to each other's territory to quash possible riots if need be.

"We are not a Chinese autonomous region,” Azhibai said. “We are a sovereign state, an independent nation.”

“Neither China nor any other state have a right to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries," Azhibai said.

Azhibai was one of many Kazakhs who have picketed outside the Chinese consulate in Almaty for many months.

They have been demanding the release of their relatives and other ethnic Kazakhs being held in internment camps in China's northwestern Xinjiang region.

In his interview last week, Ambassador Zhang said the Chinese and Kazakh armed forces "are decisively cracking down on the three evils" -- an expression used by Chinese media to refer to terrorism, extremism, and separatism.

Zhang also said in the interview that the two neighboring countries oppose "color revolutions" in the region.

Anti-China protests in Kazakh towns and cities have become frequent in recent years as Kazakh citizens challenge China's growing economic presence in the country.

Activists also have been denouncing the widespread incarceration of members of indigenous Turkic-speaking communities in China’s Xinjiang region, including ethnic Kazakhs and Uyghurs.

In April, Kazakhstan’s government sent a note of protest to Beijing over an article on a Chinese website claiming that Kazakhstan was seeking to become part of China.

In August 2018, the United Nations said an estimated 1 million Uyghurs and members of other indigenous ethnic groups in Xinjiang were being held in "counterextremism centers."

The UN said millions more had been forced into so-called “reeducation camps.”

China denies that the facilities are internment camps. But people who have fled the region say thousands of ethnic Kazakhs, Uyghurs, and other Muslims in Xinjiang are undergoing "political indoctrination" at a network of camps.

Kazakhs are the second-largest Turkic-speaking indigenous community in Xinjiang after Uyghurs. The region is also home to ethnic Kyrgyz, Tajiks, and Hui, also known as Dungans.

Han, China's largest ethnic group, is the second-largest community in Xinjiang.

The United States has imposed sanctions on Xinjiang's current and former officials over the ongoing abuse of rights of the region's indigenous ethnic groups.