Freed American Paul Whelan carries the Biden flag every day, his lawyer says

Paul Whelan is “looking forward to getting his life back together” and will return to his home state of Michigan next week after a 19-day stay at Brooke Army Medical Center, his attorney, Ryan Fayhee, told ABC News.

Fayhee, who has broached Whelan’s case with policymakers in Washington during his incarceration in Russia, says his client is “doing as well as he can” after more than five years in a Russian penal colony, where the former marine said he was subjected to forced labor. .

Designated a wrongful-detainee by the US, Whelan was traded two weeks ago along with Americans Evan Gershkovich and Alsou Kurmasheva in a multi-country trade that sent eight prisoners back to Russia.

“He continues to undergo various tests and medical treatments, just like any wrongfully detained American who comes home, and is looking forward to starting to rebuild his life after five and a half years away. And so he will soon be back in Michigan and looking forward to reuniting with friends and family and getting his life back together,” Fayhee said of Whelan.

Whelan was arrested in December 2018 and put on trial for espionage. He was convicted and sentenced to 16 years in a penal colony on charges that the US said qualified his case as wrongful detention.

Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, is the Department of Defense’s “largest and most robust military healthcare organization,” caring for more than 4,000 military and civilian trauma patients annually, according to the center’s website.

It is the only Level I Traumatology Center in the military health system.

“That initial triage,” Fayhee said, “really happens almost immediately.”

“When I met Paul on the tarmac in San Antonio, I think around 3:15 – about 6 in the morning, he and Evan and Alsu had all started this process.”

Another striking moment on the tarmac: President Joe Biden handed Paul the American flag lapel pin. “He was dressed (it) on his collar every day since,” Fayhee said.

Fayhee said Whelan spent much of his days in San Antonio reading after bringing home four bags of books sent to him during his detention. “He’s focused on reading everything about the efforts that his family … and the administration have undertaken to get him released so they can put the pieces back together,” he said.

Fayhee reports that Whelan has a few visitors while undergoing mental health treatment. He was even able to take him off base for a steak dinner — “one of the unforgettable privileges of my life,” he said. “It was surreal for me and surreal for him, for different reasons.”

The detention of an American abroad sets off a political process involving State Department officials, which has a dedicated office led by the president’s special envoy for hostage affairs, Roger Carstens, as well as the White House National Security Council — as well as the tireless work from the family advocating for their loved one and working with the government.

Carstens told the Washington Post on Monday that when an American is arrested abroad, he treats it as a “foregone conclusion” that his office will secure the detainee’s release. Expressing this optimism is an important feature of his strategy to get Americans out of their worst situations.

Fayhee acknowledged that it was “painful for Paul to see others released before him,” including Trevor Reed and Brittney Griner, who were held after Whelan and traded in exchanges that did not include his client.

Leaving Whelan out of a deal, Fayhee said, was “part of Russia’s plan to re-exploit Paul to try to divide Americans.”

“Paul really gets it,” he said.

Whelan’s arrest in December 2018 “really started, at least as far as Russia is concerned, this modern era of hostage diplomacy,” Fayhee said. “I think the arrest of Paul really led to the arrest of all the others that came after him … and they all had to do with the Russians wanting to extract some benefit from the United States.”

Fayhee said the key policy prescription for limiting Americans’ exposure to the threat of illegal detention in Russia is to educate citizens about the acute risk there. He said speeding up the State Department’s process for designating wrongfully held prisoners — which would increase internal pressure on the government to prioritize a case — is an adjustment the government is weighing.

“The State Department — in discussions about Paul — has been very open over the years (TO) finding a mechanism to escalate these arrests within the US government to be evaluated for potential illegal detention,” Fayhee said.

“There are key indicators at the time of arrest that suggest possible wrongful detention and immediate involvement in those cases, and working them with the right team within the US government is simply essential.”

Russian-American Ksenia Karelina was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in a Russian penal colony on charges of treason after she was arrested in January by Russian authorities while visiting family in the country. Admiral John Kirby, the White House spokesman for national security affairs, called the sentence “vindictive cruelty” on Thursday.

“The sentence proves all the more that there is no real justice system coming out of Moscow,” he said.

The State Department echoed those remarks, but said it had not determined whether Karelina was wrongfully detained.

Deputy press secretary Vedant Patel said the department was “continuing(S) to seek consular access” to contact Karelina.

–ABC News’ Shannon Kingston and Molly Nagle contributed to this report.