MOSCOW, July 28. /TASS/. The second Western district military court has sentenced Paraguayan mercenary Cristhian Rodrigo Carvallo in absentia to 24 years in prison for invading Russia’s Kursk Region as part of the Ukrainian military, a TASS correspondent reported from the courtroom.
"The court sentences citizen of the Republic of Paraguay Cristhian Rodrigo Carvallo to 24 years of imprisonment, with the first 4 years to be served in prison and the remainder in a strict-regime penal colony, alongside a fine of 1 million rubles," states the verdict. The term will commence upon the convict’s detention at the Russian border or upon extradition.
The ruling has not yet entered legal force and will be appealed by the defense, which had sought a not-guilty verdict.
Carvallo was found guilty of engaging in mercenary activity (criminal code article 359), terrorism (criminal code article 205), illegal arms trafficking (criminal code article 222), smuggling explosives (criminal code article 226.1), illegally entering the country (criminal code article 322).
Earlier this year, Russia’s Investigative Committee press service reported opening a criminal case against Carvallo for terrorism and mercenarism, noting his participation in armed conflict on Russian soil as a hired fighter. In October 2023, armed with automatic rifles, heavy firearms, explosives and military equipment, he illegally crossed into the Kursk Region. Pursuing goals of intimidating civilians, causing property damage and destabilizing authorities, he committed crimes against the civilian population.