Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Russian mercenary team Wagner Group, confirmed that Lemekhani Nathan Nyirenda was recruited from prison to fight in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Nyirenda died at the front in August, but the circumstances of her death, and how she came to Ukraine, were not passed on to her family, who only learned of her death in November.
“I remember this guy well,” Prigozhin said in a statement. “I spoke with him in the Tver region [outside Moscow] and asked him: ‘Why do you want this war?’ … And her response was just what he expected. He said: ‘You Russians have been helping us Africans to become independent for many years. When we had problems, you would reach out and you still do now. PMC Wagner has saved thousands of Africans, and if I go to war with you, it’s probably the least he can do to pay off our debts.’”
Nyirenda’s family was not available for comment. The Zambian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said The continent that he had not yet received official confirmation from the Russian government about what happened to Nyirenda, nor details about the eventual repatriation of his remains.
Nyirenda was a talented student on a government scholarship to a university in Moscow. She was arrested in 2020 while delivering packages for a motorcycle delivery company, when one of the packages was found to contain drugs.
He was convicted of drug possession and sentenced to nine years in prison. It is not clear if he received adequate legal representation and his family believes that he is innocent.
This is the first official confirmation that the Wagner Group is recruiting foreign prisoners to join Russia’s war effort, apparently in exchange for reduced sentences. The group has previously been implicated in human rights abuses in Mali and the Central African Republic.
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.
