A Zambian national who was serving imprisonment in Russia died on Monday. Zambia suspects he could have been deployed in the Ukraine-Russia war which caused this death. Also, Zambia seeks an explanation from the Russian government on this death.
The Zambian national is a student who was identified as Lemekhani Nathan Nyirenda by Zambia Foreign Minister Stanley Kakubo in a statement.
The 23-year-old student who was sponsored to study nuclear engineering at the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute by the Zambian government has died, a ministry statement stated.
In 2020, he was sent to prison for 9 years and six months for violating Russian law. There are no specified details about the crimes that he committed. But, he was sentenced to jail and he was in the medium-tier security prison on the outskirts of Moscow.
Died on Battlefront
But, on Nov 9, Zambia was informed that Nyirenda died on the battlefield. At this juncture, the Zambian government sent urgent questions to Russia asking under what circumstances his death occurred. How did the student serving in prison in Moscow end up on the battlefield?
Also, the ministry asked the Russian Federation to transport Mr. Nyirenda’s remains to the border city of Rostov for repatriation through the in-country embassy.
And, “explain how and by whom he was recruited to fight for Russia?”, the statement added.
Already some media houses have investigated the claim that Russia is using prisoners in the battle against Ukraine.
Who Conscripted?
The demise ignited more unanswered questions and unsettled claims.
“He was serving the prison sentence when he was conscripted into the army to go and fight in Ukraine but we don’t know who conscripted him,” the student’s father Edwin Nyirenda said.
Still, it remains a puzzle where Nyirenda was at the time of his death. But, his body has been transferred to proceed with the repatriation process.
Russia has not responded to Zambia yet (15.11.2022 – 07.50 IST) regarding the circumstances under which the death occurred.
Also, there is no specific mention of the offence that the student Nyirenda has committed. But in an interview with Reuters his father Edwin Nyirenda says that “he was arrested for drug delivery when he was working as a part-time courier delivery boy.”
Since this February, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has started deliberately and became like a war when Russian troops marched into Ukraine. Many of the students flee to border cities and countries.
Likewise, many countries have rescued their students through special planes. Still, those students are struggling in limbo to continue their studies.
