Alabama native remains in Russian jail after prisoner swap: ‘Why aren’t they helping him?’
The family of an Alabama man who has been held in Russia for more than two years is still hopeful that he may yet return home, even after he was left out of a large-scale prisoner swap earlier this month.
Last week, the U.S., Russia and several other countries exchanged 26 prisoners, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, a corporate security executive from Michigan.
Both had been convicted of espionage charges that the U.S. government considered baseless. The exchange included prisoners held in the U.S., Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, Russia and Belarus.
But not included was David Barnes, 66, an Alabama native who has been held in Russia for the past two years on charges his family says are baseless, and for which he was exonerated by U.S. law enforcement.
