Court in occupied Luhansk jails Czech citizen

A court in Russian-occupied Luhansk has sentenced a Czech-Vietnamese citizen to 13 years in prison for voluntarily fighting for Ukraine against Russia, the Russian news agency TASS reported. Authorities in the unrecognized Luhansk People’s Republic said he was convicted of taking part in combat operations against Russian forces and had been paid for doing so.

Russian authorities classify foreigners fighting for Ukraine as mercenaries rather than lawful combatants, and therefore deny them prisoner-of-war status.

The 21-year-old Hoang Tran was captured in August, and Czech media reported his detention in November.

The Czech Foreign Ministry strongly protested Russia’s actions and called on Moscow to respect international humanitarian law in its treatment of captured fighters.