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US man jailed in Russia on spying charges loses job

Paul Whelan was arrested Dec. 28 in a Moscow hotel during a visit to the country, where he faces up to 20 years in prison. Whelan denies the charges.

Credit: AP

FILE- In this Aug. 23, 2019, file photo, Paul Whelan, a former U.S. marine who was arrested for alleged spying in Moscow on Dec. 28, 2018, speaks while standing in a cage as he waits for a hearing in a court room in Moscow, Russia. Whelan, who has been imprisoned in Russia on spying charges for nearly a year has lost his job with an automotive parts supplier in a corporate restructuring, a move his brother has denounced. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — A Michigan man who has been imprisoned in Russia on spying charges for nearly a year has lost his job with an automotive parts supplier in a corporate restructuring.

Paul Whelan was arrested Dec. 28 in a Moscow hotel during a visit to the country, where he faces up to 20 years in prison. Whelan denies the charges.

BorgWarner says Whelan's role was eliminated last Friday in a corporate restructuring announced in April. Whelan's brother, David Whelan, tells The Detroit News that the firing “increases the strain on our family's ability to keep some semblance of his former life ready for when he returns home."

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