A Russian court docket has sentenced 72-year-old American citizen to 6 years and 10 months in jail after convicting him in a closed-door trial of serving as a mercenary for Ukraine, a Reuters reporter within the courtroom says.
Investigators mentioned Stephen James Hubbard, a local of Michigan, was paid $US1000 ($A1500) a month to serve in a Ukrainian territorial defence unit within the japanese metropolis of Izyum, the place he had been dwelling since 2014.
The RIA state information company quoted the prosecutor as saying in September that Hubbard was detained by Russian troopers on April 2, 2022, simply weeks after Moscow despatched hundreds of troops into Ukraine.
Russian state media mentioned Hubbard had pleaded responsible to the cost.
However in interviews in September, Hubbard’s sister and one other relative forged doubt on his reported confession, telling Reuters he held pro-Russian views and was unlikely to have taken up arms at his age.
“He’s so non-military,” his sister Patricia Hubbard Fox instructed Reuters by cellphone in September.
“He by no means had a gun, owned a gun, carried out any of that … He is extra of a pacifist.”
Reuters was unable to substantiate how Hubbard was detained.
His lawyer couldn’t instantly be reached on Monday.
The Ukrainian overseas ministry has not replied to a number of messages looking for remark.
A spokesperson for the US embassy in Moscow has mentioned it was conscious of the detention of an American citizen, however declined additional remark.
Hubbard is one among not less than 10 Individuals behind bars in Russia, almost two months after a prisoner swap on August 1 between Moscow and the West freed three Individuals and dozens of others.
