Russian court convicts Belgian mercenary
A Russian court has sentenced in absentia Belgian national Jetmir Hussein to six years in a general population penal colony for participating in the Ukraine conflict on the side of Kiev, Moscow’s Prosecutor’s office reported on Thursday.
In a statement on its Telegram channel, it stated that the 25-year-old has been found guilty of acting as a mercenary in an armed conflict.
Prosecutors established that Hussein, who does not hold Ukrainian or Russian citizenship, travelled to a training camp in Ukraine’s Lviv Region in March 2022 that is said to belong to the International Legion of the Territorial Defense of Ukraine.
There, with the goal of receiving “material compensation,” investigators claim that Hussein joined the International Legion as a mercenary, underwent military training and “agreed to participate in hostilities against representatives of the security forces of the Donetsk (DPR) and Lugansk People’s Republics (LPR), as well as servicemen of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.”
The prosecutor’s office said that Hussein’s case was heard by the Moscow City Court which, due to the absence of the defendant, has issued an arrest warrant for him and placed him on the international wanted list.
Meanwhile, in Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic, a court has also sentenced in absentia a 31-year-old US national to 13 years in prison for fighting alongside Kiev’s forces. The DPR prosecutor’s office identified the man as US Army veteran Alexander Grant Tobiassen.
It is claimed that Tobiassen had previously gained combat experience during campaigns in Afghanistan and Syria and joined the Georgian National Legion in 2017 as a mercenary. In 2021, he is said to have joined the 36th Separate Marine Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and has repeatedly taken part in combat against DPR and LPR militias and against Russian forces since 2022.
The prosecutors noted that Tobiassen has participated in military operations in Ukraine, the DPR, LPR, and Russia and claimed that throughout his service he has earned the equivalent of some 12.8 million rubles ($128,000)
