AKIPRESS.COM - The Angren City Criminal Court has sentenced a 25-year-old man from Uzbekistan for participating in armed conflict as a member of the Wagner private military company, gazeta.uz reported.

According to case materials, in July 2021, U.M. traveled to Russia's Samara region, where he was soon arrested and convicted by the Kirov District Court for drug trafficking. He was serving his sentence in a Russian correctional facility.

In September 2022, founder of the Wagner PMC Yevgeny Prigozhin arrived at the colony where U.M. was serving his sentence. The businessman offered prisoners to take part in the war. In exchange, the prisoners were promised 150,000 rubles (about $2,000), Russian citizenship and a pardon after six months of service. More than 100 people agreed to join the PMC. U.M. refused.

Later, Wagner PMC members arrived to the colony again. According to U.M., this time they lined up Russians and prisoners from Central Asia separately. The former were offered to join their company voluntarily, while the latter were initially offered the same. But after 10-15 people refused, three of them were immediately shot. After that, all the migrants agreed to serve in the ranks of Wagner, U.M. says.

U.M. and others were taken to Rostov-on-Don, where they signed contracts with the PMC, then they were transferred to a training camp near Donetsk. The defendant admitted that he participated in battles for four months until he was wounded in the leg in early February 2023. He added that the prisoners had no choice, as they were threatened with execution if they retreated from the battlefield.

The man was treated in the hospital for about a month, then he was returned to the front lines. Shortly before the end of his service, the condition of his wound worsened, and he was hospitalized again, then sent to Rostov.

In April 2023, for his involvement in the war, U.M. received a monetary reward of 500,000 Russian rubles, as well as medals "For Courage," "For Injury," "For the Capture of Soledar," and was granted Russian citizenship, kun.uz reports.

In the autumn of 2024, he returned to Angren, later becoming a defendant in a mercenary case.

The court found U.M. guilty of mercenarism and sentenced him to five years of restricted freedom.