Russia pardoned Zambian prisoner to fight in Ukraine -Zambia FM
Russia previously announced that Lemekhani Nyirenda had been killed on the battlefield in Ukraine in September, prompting Zambia to ask how he had ended up fighting in the war.
By REUTERSRussian soldiers march in Almaty, Kazakhstan, January 13, 2022(photo credit: REUTERS/PAVEL MIKHEYEV)
Russia has told Zambia it pardoned a Zambian prisoner to go and fight in Ukraine, where he was killed, the southern African country's Foreign Affairs Minister Stanley Kakubo said on Friday.
Russia previously announced that Lemekhani Nyirenda had been killed on the battlefield in Ukraine in September, prompting Zambia to ask how he had ended up fighting in the war.
"We were informed that Russia allows for prisoners to be provided an opportunity for pardon in exchange for participation in the special military operation," Kakubo said.
"We were informed that Russia allows for prisoners to be provided an opportunity for pardon in exchange for participation in the special military operation."
Stanley Kakubo
Visitors pose for a picture outside PMC Wagner Centre, which is a project implemented by the businessman and founder of the Wagner private military group Yevgeny Prigozhin, during the official opening of the office block in Saint Petersburg, Russia, November 4, 2022 (credit: REUTERS/IGOR RUSSAK)
Why was a Zambian prisoner pardoned to fight in Russia's invasion of Ukraine?
According to Nyirenda's father, he had been serving a nine-year jail sentence on the outskirts of Moscow for a drug offense when he was "conscripted" to fight.
Kakubo said Nyirenda's remains had arrived in Moscow on Friday and were expected in Zambia on Sunday.
Russia has also informed Zambia that money owed to Nyirenda, together with all the documentation relating to his amnesty, recruitment and death, would be handed to a Zambian representative who would accompany the body, the minister said.
Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, said last month the Zambian student had been fighting for his Wagner Private Military Group.
