LONDON: Former US marine Paul Whelan has been attacked by another inmate in a Russian prison while serving a 16-year sentence on espionage charges, Russia`s prison service said on Wednesday, after Whelan`s brother publicised the incident.
Whelan, who denies spying on Russia, was punched in the face and forced to defend himself at a sewing workshop in a high security penal colony in Russia`s Mordovia region southeast of Moscow, his brother Dave Whelan said in a statement.
`A new prisoner blocked part of the production line and Paul asked him to move out of the way. After repeated requests, the prisoner hit Paul in the face, breaking Paul`s glasses in the process, and attempted to hit him a second time,` Dave Whelan said.
`Paul stood up to block the second hit and other prisoners intervened to prevent the prisoner continuing the attack on Paul.` Dave Whelan said the incident took place on Tuesday afternoon. He thought his brother was a target because he was an American and anti-American sentiment was `not uncommon among the other prisoners,` he said.The Mordovia regional prison service confirmed to the Interfax news agency that the attack on Whelan had happened. It said guards had taken immediate action to stop `the illegal actions.` Both men had been taken to the medical bay, where Whelan was found to have suffered an abrasion beneath one of his eyes, it was cited as saying.
