Stephen Hubbard, 72, was detained in japanese Ukraine in April 2022 and charged with preventing for Ukraine.
A Russian court docket has sentenced a U.S. citizen to 6 years and ten months in jail in a closed trial for preventing as a mercenary for Ukraine.
Investigators mentioned Stephen Hubbard, from the US state of Michigan, was paid $1,000 a month to serve within the Ukrainian Territorial Protection Forces within the japanese metropolis of Izyum, the place he had lived since 2014.
They declare the 72-year-old signed the settlement in February 2022, earlier than Russia launched a full-scale invasion, and acquired coaching, weapons and ammunition.
Two months later, Hubbard was detained by Russian troopers.
Hubbard’s case first grew to become public late final month, when his trial started and he pleaded responsible. At a listening to final week, the court docket granted prosecutors’ request that the proceedings proceed in secret with out being launched to the media.
In response to Reuters and AFP reporters current, a handcuffed Hubbard slowly walked into the Moscow Metropolis Courtroom and struggled as Decide Alexandra Kovalevskaya learn out the decision. Standing on the bottom.
Russian state information company RIA reported that Hubbard’s legal professionals deliberate to attraction.
State Division spokesman Matthew Miller mentioned Washington has restricted data on the case as a result of Russia has refused to supply Hubbard with consular entry.
He confirmed Hubbard was arrested in Ukraine two years in the past.
“We’re disillusioned as we all the time are after they deny consular entry,” Miller informed reporters in Washington. “They’ve an obligation to supply it and we’ll proceed to work laborious to get it. We’re watching the case intently and can take into account it subsequent.” step.
Hubbard’s sister, Patricia Hubbard Fox, and one other relative expressed doubts about his reported confession, telling Reuters he held pro-Russian views and was unlikely to choose up the case given his age. arms.
In interviews, Fox and one other relative portrayed Hubbard as an remoted determine who was estranged from some relations throughout his a long time instructing English overseas, together with in Japan and Cyprus.
Fox mentioned Hubbard moved to Ukraine in 2014 and lived there for a time with a Ukrainian lady, surviving on a small pension of about $300 a month. He by no means realized Russian or Ukrainian, she mentioned.
Hubbard is certainly one of at the least 10 Individuals jailed in Russia, practically two months after a prisoner swap between Moscow and the West freed three Individuals, together with Wall Road Journal reporter Evan Gershko Vicky and dozens of others.
