美国国家公共电台 NPR--As Brittney Griner comes home, one man continues to fight for his brother's return

As Brittney Griner comes home, one man continues to fight for his brother's return

Transcript¹

Brittney Griner is back in the U.S. but other Americans are still being held in Russia. NPR speaks with David Whelan, whose brother, Paul, is serving a 16-year sentence in a Russian prison.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Brittney Griner is back in the U.S. this morning. After 10 months in Russian custody², the WNBA star was released in a high-profile prisoner swap³. U.S. negotiators tried to make the release of another American part of the deal, but those efforts failed. Paul Whelan has been held in Russia since 2018. He's a former Marine⁴. And he was convicted in Russia on espionage⁵ charges, charges the U.S. government says are baseless. Here's National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby talking to NPR yesterday.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

JOHN KIRBY: Our efforts were designed to get both of them home. That was the goal. And we offered different permutations of deals to the Russians with that as our desired outcome.

MARTIN: Joining us now is the brother of Paul Whelan, David Whelan. Thank you so much for being with us.

DAVID WHELAN: Thanks for having me.

MARTIN: Must be a bittersweet moment for your family, celebrating Brittney Griner's release, obviously, but knowing your brother couldn't also come home.

WHELAN: It is hard. And we were very grateful to the White House for giving us a little bit of advance notice so that we could, you know, take in the news and really sort of process some of that grief and disappointment privately⁶ rather than, as we had to in April, publicly.

MARTIN: When were you made aware that was - that it was a possibility?

WHELAN: It was late on December 7 in the afternoon out here in California when I heard.

MARTIN: And, I mean, you've been through this before. Do you calibrate⁷ your hopes? How do you manage that?

WHELAN: I think you try not to let your hopes get too high. And I expect that this time, because of the announcement by the U.S. government back in August, when Secretary Blinken talked about the substantial proposal to bring Paul and to bring Brittney home, that we may have let our hopes get a little bit high. I think even Paul was thinking already about where he would live when he got back home. And I think we probably will not make that mistake again.

MARTIN: Do you think that your brother had a better chance of getting out as part of a pair with Brittney Griner in this case?

WHELAN: I don't know that there is a better or worse scenario⁸. I think all of these cases, whether it's Paul and Brittney in Russia or Majd Kamalmaz in Syria or Siamak Namazi in Iran - I think all of these cases are essentially⁹ individual and running on their own track. And so it was very good of the U.S. to try and get them both home. It makes sense to me that they would want to get both at the same time if they could because, you know, those are the only two wrongfully detained Americans in Russia at the moment. But at the same time, they're individual cases, and so it's completely understandable that they would not be able to accomplish that because each case has its own requirements.

MARTIN: As you note, each case is different, and your brother is facing espionage charges in Russia, which, again, U.S. officials say are baseless, but it does make his case a lot more complicated. What do you know about the charges against him and how the U.S. is trying to counter them?

WHELAN: Well, I think the Kremlin has created a theater, and that is all this really is, is that Paul was set up, and he was entrapped¹⁰, you know, run through the Russian legal system, such as it is, and came out the other side with the label of espionage and spy put on him. But I don't think anybody takes that seriously. I don't even think that the Russian government takes it seriously. It's merely a label that they can then use to extract a concession¹¹ from the U.S. government. And the Kremlin is a bully¹², and so they want parity¹³, and they will wait now, I think, until they have their own spy captured and in U.S. custody and then use Paul as a trade for that.

MARTIN: He has been in prison for four years at this point. Trevor Reed, another former Marine who was being held in Russia, was released this past spring. And now Griner's release. I know it's hard to criticize the people who hold the fate of your brother in their hands, but are you satisfied with the U.S. government's efforts to free him?

WHELAN: I am. And I would criticize them if I felt that they deserved it. But I think that President Biden in particular and his staff, Secretary Blinken, National Security Adviser¹⁴ Sullivan, have done an exceptional job of changing the dynamic for wrongful detainees, for their families. And I don't think the U.S. government is where it needs to be, and it started behind the curve, but it is getting better at handling wrongful detention¹⁵ cases, in particular handling Paul's case, I think. You know, giving us advance notice was a great example of that. Calling Paul so that he didn't learn about his being left behind again - the U.S. Embassy did that rather than him learning it on Russian media. All of these are steps forward.

So I think that they are doing what they can. But we're not dealing¹⁶ with a terrorist organization; we're dealing with a sovereign nation-state. And as long as Russia and China and Iran and Syria and Egypt and other countries are taking Americans hostage, the U.S. government's going to face this very difficult position of how to get people back with very limited resources.

MARTIN: How is he doing? When's the last time you talked to your brother?

WHELAN: I haven't spoken to him since October 2018, but he was able to call our parents yesterday and express the disappointment, which I think he is - is completely understandable. And I think he's probably recalibrating his own expectations and hopes now and trying to figure out how to continue to survive. And surviving isn't living, but it's something, and we will try and continue to support that.

MARTIN: David Whelan, the brother of Paul Whelan, an American who has been imprisoned¹⁷ in Russia since 2018. Thank you so much for your time this morning.

WHELAN: Thanks for having me.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

3 swap   

n.交换；vt.交换，用...作交易

参考例句：

• I will swap you my bicycle for your radio.我想拿我的自行车换你的收音机。
• This comic was a swap that I got from Nick.这本漫画书是我从尼克那里换来的。

4 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

5 espionage   

n.间谍行为，谍报活动

参考例句：

• The authorities have arrested several people suspected of espionage.官方已经逮捕了几个涉嫌从事间谍活动的人。
• Neither was there any hint of espionage in Hanley's early life.汉利的早期生活也毫无进行间谍活动的迹象。

6 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

7 calibrate   

校准；使合标准；测量（枪的）口径

参考例句：

• Pesticide levels in food are simply too difficult to calibrate.食品中杀虫剂的含量很难精确测定。

8 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

9 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

10 entrapped   

v.使陷入圈套，使入陷阱( entrap的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was entrapped into undertaking the work. 他受骗而担任那工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He felt he had been entrapped into marrying her. 他觉得和她结婚是上了当。 来自辞典例句

11 concession   

n.让步，妥协；特许(权)

参考例句：

• We can not make heavy concession to the matter.我们在这个问题上不能过于让步。
• That is a great concession.这是很大的让步。

12 bully   

n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮

参考例句：

• A bully is always a coward.暴汉常是懦夫。
• The boy gave the bully a pelt on the back with a pebble.那男孩用石子掷击小流氓的背脊。

13 parity   

n.平价，等价，比价，对等

参考例句：

• The two currencies have now reached parity.这两种货币现已达到同等价值。
• Women have yet to achieve wage or occupational parity in many fields.女性在很多领域还没能争取到薪金、职位方面的平等。

14 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

15 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

16 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

17 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。