We’ve all followed the saga of former U.S. Marine Paul Whalen, and more recently Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who are both being held by Russia after being charged with espionage.
But there are other U.S. citizens unjustly accused of imaginary crimes and imprisoned in Russian labor camps under conditions so barbaric they bring to mind Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s "Gulag Archipelago."
Professional musician James "Jimmy" Wilgus is one who became a victim of Putin’s Russian legal system and is now a prisoner. He’s been incarcerated for more than six years.
Jimmy’s interest in music began at the age of three. Since then his talents have led him to write music, form bands and even write and perform film and TV music scores.
Jimmy eventually partnered with a Russian guitarist to form a band: Wicked Monkey. It gained popularity in Eastern Europe. While in Moscow he built a state-of-the-art studio to record music and video.
It was also while in Moscow where he met and married the love of his life.
It ended on November 7, 2016, when Russian police accused him of a crime he didn’t commit and coerced him into signing a document in Russian he couldn’t read. He was told if he signed it, he would be released.
It was a confession.
Jimmy was tried and convicted in a closed-door proceeding from which both his wife and U.S. Embassy representatives were barred.
He’s now serving a 12-1/2 year sentence for a crime he didn’t commit, and suffers from declining health, brought on by his years in a brutal Russian labor camp.
He lost faith that he’ll survive the remainder of his sentence. He needs our help.
Brad Bennett, who handles public relations for Jimmy Wilgus’ family, told Newsmax that "he had a stroke last year, and that has caused a lot of problems . . . he hasn’t had an MRI" although “the Russian courts have ordered one.
"They don’t even know what damage has occurred without one."
In addition, "he has hypertension. My understanding is that they give him the medication he needs for that sporadically," Bennett said.
He suffers from chronic headaches and Osteochondrosis, a back disorder that affects the skeleton, resulting from either injury or overuse.
Blood tests suggest he has liver issues that remain unatt"ended.
"He’s got a lot of things going on," Bennett confirmed, and as you can imagine, they’re not too sensitive to it."
Nonetheless, "he’s still in a labor camp. He’s still forced to work."
However his Russian wife "is supportive. She’s concerned about him. That relationship is absolutely intact." But "she’s worried about herself too. Can you imagine?" Bennett asked.
"The way a country like Russia operates as the wife of a prisoner that will put you in a very precarious position."
Conditions at the prison are primitive. "There are some bathrooms at the facility, but in his cell it’s just a hole in the ground. [Wilgus] describes the bed as a concrete slab, so the floor is just as comfortable as the bed. It’s just brutal."
Bennett added that "these are just Soviet-era gulags from the 1930s when Stalin was building these gulags — the 'Gulag Archipelago.' It’s not the Soviet Union anymore but it’s the same facilities."
And it’s hard to say what the Biden administration is doing. "The government keeps in contact with [the family], but it’s a lot of 'we’re doing all we can' and you wonder if that’s the case."
Bennett said that the most frustrating aspect about the Wilgus case is that “to be considered for these prisoner exchanges, you have to be labeled ‘unjustly detained,’” and that “seems to be an arbitrary classification.”
Complicating things, he signed a concession — although he didn’t realize it.
And it’s not just Wilgus. “There are others there who are suffering also,” Bennett said. “And when I work on this, he is representative of those other individuals as well.”
He invites Americans to apply pressure — to their members of Congress, the White House, the State Department, and the House and Senate committees on foreign relations.
They launched a website, Free Jimmy Wilgus, that includes a list of phone numbers that concerned Americans can call to apply pressure.
"And I urge them to apply that public pressure," Bennett said.
"We throw the word 'freedom' around sometimes, but whenever it’s restricted so much that you don’t have freedom of movement … freedom of association … freedom of speech, you don’t have anything in an environment where he is, I think he’s just looking forward to do whatever he wants, or nothing at all — and to do that surrounded by family."
Lawrence Lustberg is an attorney for Wilgus' parents, who are in their eighties.
He told Greta Van Susteren on "The Record" (Newsmax TV) that "The Jimmy Wilgus' of the world, who are just living in Russia and suddenly get snapped up for doing absolutely nothing wrong, get ignored."
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter. Read Michael Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.