A Russian court on Monday sentenced a 72-year-old American in a closed trial to nearly seven years in prison for allegedly fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine.
Prosecutors said Stephen Hubbard signed a contract with the Ukrainian military after Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and he fought alongside them until being captured two months later.
He was sentenced to six years and 10 months in a general-security prison. Prosecutors had called for a sentence of seven years in a maximum-security prison.
I don’t get it. Unless there are warcrimes involved, condemning enemy combatants is more than petty. Especially if they are captured outside Russian territory.
I’m pretty sure this has nothing to do with anything beyond Russia wanting to use him as a bargaining chip
Just as the horny dude that went from his crayon eating routine to freaking russia cause a girl asked him to and got jailed because of being an american: russia needs prisioners to trade. Don’t fly to russia if you hold a NATO-member citizenship
Big assumption he was actually a combatant. The Kremlin sat on this for two years then had a closed trial. I wouldn’t even believe them if they told me what they had for lunch, let alone this.
Early on Russia said it would treat any foreigner fighting for Ukraine as a mercenary, and criminally punish them. Doesn’t matter that they sign with the Ukrainian government to fully be in the Ukrainian military. Just more rank hypocrisy, as they pull soldiers from all over Africa, India and China. Along with Americans caught in statutory rape charges that happened to flee before trial.