The foreign affairs minister of Zambia said on Monday that Zambia has urged Russia to explain how one of its people, who was serving a prison sentence in Moscow, wound up on the battlefield in Ukraine, where he was killed.
Lemekhani Nyirenda passed away in September, according to a statement from Stanley Kakubo, who did not provide any other information.
Kakubo stated without elaborating on the offence that took place in April 2020 that the Zambian student was incarcerated in a medium security facility outside of Moscow after being found guilty of breaking Russian law.
According to Kakubo, “the Zambian government has asked the Russian authorities to offer information on the circumstances under which a Zambian person, serving a jail sentence in Moscow, could have been recruited to fight in Ukraine.”
It was unclear how and by whom the prisoner was enlisted. The specifics of his death could not be independently verified by Reuters.
The student’s father, Edwin Nyirenda, stated, “He was serving the prison sentence when he was drafted into the army to go and fight in Ukraine, but we don’t know who enlisted him.
In response to a request for information regarding the specifics of his trip to Ukraine and subsequent demise, the Russian defence ministry did not provide a response right away.
According to Kakubo, the 23-year-old, who was enrolled at a Moscow university to study nuclear engineering, was found guilty and sentenced to nine years and six months in prison.
Lemekhani was imprisoned for drug trafficking while working a part-time courier job, according to his father.
Edwin Nyirenda claims that his kid received a package containing drugs, and the police were unable to identify the sender.
As soon as the official word on the circumstances behind the Zambian’s death was obtained from the Russian authorities, Kakubo stated more information would be released.
In order to be returned to Zambia, his remains have been taken to Rostov, a town on the Russian border, said Kakubo.
“Our son left a will, and we should travel to Russia,” Nyirenda said. “We just received a message from a man we do not know in Russia.”
According to the family, they intended to travel to Russia to identify the body.
