A court in the city of Luhansk in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine sentenced Minh Hoang Tran, a Czech citizen of Vietnamese origin, who fought in Ukraine alongside the Ukrainian army, to 13 years in prison. He was captured by the Russians in August during the fighting for the city of Pokrovsk in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas. This was reported by the AFP agency on Thursday, writes TASR.
- Czech citizen Minh Hoang Tran was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
- Tran was detained in Russian-occupied Luhansk for fighting for Ukraine.
- The court accused him of his role as an alleged mercenary in the Ukrainian army.
- The Geneva Conventions require the protection of prisoners of war, which Russia ignores.
- Czech diplomacy called the verdict a violation of international law.
According to the prosecutor’s office, Tran joined the Ukrainian army in May of this year and received a monthly salary of $6,000. Courts in Russia and in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories prosecute captured foreign fighters as mercenaries, for which they face up to 15 years in prison. The affected states point out that Russia should consider these soldiers as prisoners of war and provide them with protection according to the Geneva Conventions.
The Czech side criticized the verdict and the approach of the pro-Russian authorities. “By refusing to grant him prisoner of war status and illegally prosecuting him as an alleged mercenary, Russia has flagrantly violated its obligations under the Third Geneva Convention,” said the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, quoted by the AFP agency.
