Zambia demands explanation from Moscow: a Zambian who was supposed to be in a Russian prison died in the war in Ukraine

Zambia asked Russia to explain how one of its citizens, who was serving a prison term in Moscow, ended up on the battlefield in Ukraine, where he was killed, reports Reuters.

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Stanley Kakubo, Zambia's foreign minister, said on November 14 that Russia notified Zambia of the death of its citizen Lemehani Nyirenda in September, but did not provide details.

A Zambian student was serving time in a maximum security prison on the outskirts of Moscow after being convicted of violating Russian law, Kakubo said, without specifying what offense was committed in April 2020.

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“The Zambian government has asked the Russian authorities to urgently provide information on the circumstances under which a Zambian citizen serving a sentence in Moscow could be recruited to participate in hostilities in Ukraine,” Kakubo said.

It is unclear how the prisoner was recruited and by whom.

“He was serving a prison term when he was drafted into the army to go to fight in Ukraine, but we do not know who drafted him,” said student father Edwin Nyirenda.

According to Kakubo, the 23-year-old, who studied nuclear engineering at a Moscow university, was convicted and sentenced to nine years and six months in prison.

His father said that Lemehani was imprisoned for drug trafficking while moonlighting as a courier.
According to Edwin Nyirenda, a package of drugs was handed over to his son, and the police could not identify the person who gave it to him.

Kakubo said that further details would be provided after receiving an official communication from the Russian authorities about the circumstances of the death of the Zambian.

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Kakubo added that his remains were moved to the Russian border town of Rostov, pending repatriation to Zambia.

“We have just received a message from a person we do not know in Russia who told us that there is a will that our son left and we must go to Russia,” Nyirenda said.

The family said they planned to travel to Russia to identify the body.

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