MOSCOW, July 16. /TASS/. The Second Western Military District Court sentenced in absentia a Paraguayan national, Jorge Adrian Lugo Jimenez, to 24 years in prison for fighting as a mercenary on the side of Ukraine during the invasion of the Kursk Region in 2024, according to a TASS reporter in the courtroom.
The first 5 years should be served in prison, and the rest of the term in a maximum-security penal colony, the judge said. The verdict can be appealed.
The prison term is to commence as soon as the defendant is detained whenever he comes to Russia or is extradited.
The Moscow Prosecutor's Office said Jorge Adrian Lugo Jimenez was found guilty of participating in an armed conflict as a mercenary, illegal crossing of the Russian state border, smuggling of firearms and ammunition, terrorist act and illegal trafficking of weapons. It has been established that in September 2024 he, along with two unidentified persons, who are being prosecuted in a separate case, illegally crossed the Russian state border in the Kursk Region while in possession of firearms and ammunition. There, he followed orders of Ukrainian commanders to participate in an armed conflict against Russian servicemen.
He regularly received material remuneration for these crimes in the amount of at least $8,000, or at least 730,000 rubles, until April this year. The mercenary is currently on the wanted list.