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Court in Moscow hands down lengthy prison sentence to 72-year-old US mercenary Hubbard

The court also ordered 142,000 hryvnias ($3,400) confiscated from the defendant and paid to the Russian state

MOSCOW, October 7. /TASS/. The Moscow City Court pronounced its verdict against Stephen Hubbard, a 72-year-old American accused of fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine, a TASS correspondent reported from the court room.

"[The court ruled] to sentence Hubbard to six years and 10 months imprisonment in a general regime colony," the verdict read out by judge Alexandra Kovalevskaya reads. Prosecutors were seeking a sentence of seven years.

Hubbard, who has been in custody since April 2, 2022, accepted the charges. His prison term will include the more than two years he has already spent in detention.

The court also ordered 142,000 hryvnias ($3,400) confiscated from the defendant and paid to the Russian state.

In an interview released by several media outlets earlier, Hubbard, a native of Michigan, said he had moved to Ukraine in 2014, settling there with his wife. Incited by the Ukrainian media, he later joined the Ukrainian armed forces, without fully understanding the situation. Hubbard was taken captive by Russian servicemen in the course of the fighting. He recounted that the Russians treated him well and that he currently has a better vision of why the Ukraine conflict erupted as he is sympathetic with the motives for Russia’s actions.

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