When Lemekhani Nathan Nyirenda’s body was returned to Zambia last year, it should have been closure for his grieving family. Instead, the controversy surrounding his death on the battlefield in Ukraine has only deepened.
The 23-year-old was a student at a Moscow university when he was arrested while working as a courier for carrying a package containing drugs and was sentenced to nine years in prison.
His family says they had no idea what was in the package. After Russia invaded Ukraine last February, the Wagner mercenary team offered early release of prisoners in exchange for fighting on the front lines.
In September, Nyirenda was killed in fighting in the Ukraine. His remains were repatriated to Zambia on December 11. But his family isn’t convinced the remains are really his.
“When the coffin was opened, they only found pieces of bone that were assembled into a skeleton, there was no meat,” a source close to the family said. A DNA test was carried out in South Africa, but the results were inconclusive.
The Nyirenda plan to bury their son at the family farm in Chongwe district, east of Lusaka, but are unable to do so until the identity of the remains is confirmed.
Last week, the joke reported that Nemes Tarimo, a young Tanzanian student in Moscow, had also been killed on the front lines in Ukraine after being released from a Russian prison.
This article first appeared on The continentthe pan-African weekly produced in collaboration with the mail and guardian. It is designed to be read and shared on WhatsApp. Download your free copy here.
