Moscow — A Russian court on Monday sentenced a 72-year-old U.S. citizen accused of fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine amid Russia’s ongoing invasion to nearly seven years in prison. Judge Alexandra Kovalevskaya at Moscow City Court sentenced the defendant, named as Stephen Hubbard by the media, to six years and 10 months in prison. The bearded defendant stood with difficulty as the sentence was read out.
He was convicted of “participating as a mercenary in the armed conflict” after a brief trial largely held behind closed doors.
The sentence took into account the fact that Hubbard has already been in custody since April 2, 2022.
Moscow City Court Press Service/Handout via REUTERS
His case only became public on September 27, when his trial began in Moscow. Russia has not said where he was detained.
Hubbard appeared in poor health, walking slowly and dragging his feet at a hearing last week, when the court ordered that the trial be held in secret without the media, at the request of prosecutors.
Russian news agencies said the defendant had pleaded guilty.
What’s known about Stephen Hubbard’s detention
Russia’s state-run TASS news agency said Hubbard had been living in the Ukrainian city of Izyum in the northeastern Kharkiv region since 2014. Russian forces took control of the city of 45,000 shortly after ordering troops into Ukraine, before being ousted in September 2022 in a lightning counteroffensive by Kyiv.
Russia has not given any details on the circumstances of Hubbard’s arrest.
Maxim Shemetov/REUTERS
Prosecutors alleged that Hubbard was paid at least $1,000 a month to join a Ukrainian territorial defense unit. They say he underwent training, was given a combat uniform and “took part in the armed conflict” in Ukraine.
A video posted on pro-Russian YouTube channels in May 2022 — during the Russian occupation of Izyum — showed a man who gave his name as Stephen James Hubbard, said he was born in Big Rapids, Michigan, and came to live in Ukraine in 2014.
In the video, he looked dishevelled, with a long beard and dirty nails.
Russia’s recent history of jailing Americans
Another U.S. citizen was convicted by the same court in Russia on Monday. Named as Robert Gilman, he was handed a term of seven years and one month in a strict-regime penal colony. He was found guilty of attacking prison staff and a criminal investigator, Russian news agencies reported.
Gilman was already jailed after being convicted in 2022 of attacking a policeman while drunk in the western city of Voronezh and sentenced to four years and six months in prison, later reduced to three and a half years on appeal.
While in jail, he punched members of prison staff “in the head” on two separate occasions and attacked a criminal investigator, according to prosecutors.
Russia has arrested numerous Westerners in recent years on charges ranging from espionage to petty theft, with some cases related to Moscow’s Ukraine offensive. They include Ksenia Karelina, a dual US-Russian citizen who was arrested while visiting family in Russia and sentenced to 12 years in jail for donating around $50 to a Ukrainian organization.
Russia recently tried a number of U.S. citizens and, over the summer, a large prisoner exchange was completed with the U.S. that saw two high-profile prisoners, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and U.S. Marine veteran Paul Whelan, freed in exchange for several Russians jailed in the United States and other countries — most of them with connections to Russian intelligence.
A previous swap between the old Cold War adversaries saw Russia release WNBA star Brittney Griner in exchange for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout in December of 2022.
Two Colombian citizens are also being held in Russia on charges of being “mercenaries” for Ukraine.
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