The Russian justice sentenced this Monday to six years and ten months in prison American citizen Stephen Hubbard72 years old, captured in Ukraine while fighting as a mercenary against the Russian army.
According to the criteria of
At the request of the Prosecutor’s Office, the Moscow City Court considered the age of the accused as mitigating factors and also the fact that admitted his guiltsince Hubbard could have been sentenced to up to 15 years, according to article 359 of the Penal Code.
Furthermore, the American will be able to serve his sentence in a prison for common prisoners and not in a maximum security one, which was the prosecutor’s request.
At the end of the hearing, which took place partially behind closed doors, the United States Embassy He expressed his confidence in soon having consular access to his national.
Hubbard, a retiree from Michigan who appeared wearing a hat to combat the cold, will remain in preventive detention until the ruling takes effect.
The American will be able to serve his sentence in a prison for common prisoners and not in a maximum security one, which was the prosecutor’s request.
The Prosecutor’s Office maintains that in February 2022, the defendant signed a contract with the territorial defense battalion of the Ukrainian city of Izium, in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, in exchange for less than a thousand dollars per month.
He added that Hubbard underwent military training, received equipment and weapons, and “participated in the armed conflict” until April 2022, when he was captured by the Russian Army.
The American had lived in Ukraine “with a woman he called his wife” since 2014, according to the RIA Nóvosti agency.
Last May, a Facebook user who identified herself as Trisha Hubbard Fox claimed that her brother “had been kidnapped” in Ukraine by Chechen soldiers, who allegedly beat him.
In the past, Moscow has used American prisoners as bargaining chips to guarantee the return of Russians held in American prisons, as was the case of the one known as the ‘Merchant of Death’, Viktor But.
The most recent exchange took place last August 1st and became the largest, involving spies, between Russia and the West since 1985, by exchanging 24 people.
Another American citizen, former Marine Robert Gilmanwas sentenced by a court in the city of Voronezh to seven years and one month in prison for assaulting the police.
#Russia #sentences #72yearold #American #years #prison #accused #fighting #mercenary #Ukraine