A Russian court on Monday rejected an appeal by jailed ex-U.S. Marine Paul Whelan who had challenged the refusal of a regional court to hear his case to be transferred to the United States to serve his sentence there, the Interfax news agency reported.
Russia convicted Whelan, who holds U.S., British, Canadian and Irish passports, of spying last June and sentenced him to 16 years in jail. He had denied the allegation and said he was set up in a sting operation. Washington demanded his release.
(Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; Writing by Alexander Marrow; editing by Tom Balmforth)
