A Moscow-backed court in Ukraine’s occupied Donetsk region on Thursday jailed two Colombians for 13 years each for fighting for Kyiv.
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AFP reports: They are the latest foreign fighters to get lengthy jail terms as “mercenaries” by Russian-installed authorities after joining Ukraine’s army.
“For participating in hostilities on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Alexander Ante, 48 and Jose Aron Medina Aranda, 37 “were each sentenced to 13 years in prison,” the prosecutor’s office said on Telegram.
The pair had fought for Ukraine in 2023 and 2024, and then vanished in July while on a stopover in Russia’s ally Venezuela en route back home after their deployment.
Videos published by Moscow showed the men, handcuffed and wearing Russian prison clothing, being walked through a court building by masked security officers.
After disappearing, the pair were next seen on a video published by Russia’s FSB security service, handcuffed and being taken for interrogation in Russia.
Bogota says dozens of Colombians have been killed in Ukraine since the start of the war in February 2022, where many have flocked to take up arms against Russia.
Moscow has prosecuted captured foreign fighters as “mercenaries”, a charge which carries up to 15 years in prison, rather than treating them as captured prisoners of war with protections under the Geneva Conventions.
По материалам: http://www.planet-today.com/2025/11/russia-hands-13-year-sentences-to-two.html