Convicted under the judgment, Andrej G. and Alexei T. appeared in court on charges of recruiting for the mercenary service prohibited by international law, i.e. PMC Wagner (Private Military Company), espionage activities, i.e. conducting the so-called hybrid war in Poland and other European Union countries and participation in an organized armed union aimed at committing
offences of a terrorist nature.
A court in London sentenced 49-year-old Piotr K to prison. A Pole living in the British Isles claimed to have fought for the Wagner Group in Ukraine – reports the BBC.
What was their business? Using the QR code posted on the stickers they stick, you could connect with people recruiting for the Wagner Group, as well as familiarize yourself with „praca”'s offer for it (e.g. as a sniper) and specific rates.
The court found them guilty and sentenced both to five and a half years' imprisonment. He also ordered each of them to pay PLN 30,000. PLN for the Victims Assistance Fund and Post-Penitentiary Assistance.
They recruited for the Wagner Group. The Russians were supposed to meet a journalist in Poland and publicize the action
Judge Ewa Karp-Sieklucka explained in the oral recitals of the judgment that the version pushed by the defendants themselves could not be accepted, as if they did not realize what activity they were actually committing –, because it was not their first „mission” of this type. They also remained in constant contact with the clients, and via the phone of one of them they had access to a chat about the activities of the Wagner Group. After the action, they also intended to meet with an undetermined journalist to publicize their „achievements”.
An indictment against two citizens of the Russian Federation operating within the so-called „Wagner” Group, the National Prosecutor's Office said on Friday.
The court assessed their activities as very harmful, although it accepted as a mitigating circumstance the fact that ultimately they did not cause huge damage to the Polish state. Judge Karp-Sieklucka recalled that they themselves assessed Poland – by the presence of a dense network of cameras, numerous police patrols and alarming about disturbing signals from – citizens as a place difficult to conduct such activities.
Prosecutor: they performed tasks that Putin and Lukashenko indirectly ordered
The prok agreed with the content of the judgment. Tomasz Dudek from the Ma?opolska department of the National Prosecutor's Office, although he announced that –, as he applied for a higher sentence for Russians, i.e. after eight years –, will probably appeal against him.
– According to the findings made, both during the investigation and before the court of first instance, the defendants are people who have been acting for many months for the authorities of the Russian Federation as a criminal state conducting an armed attack on Ukraine. – emphasized in an interview with journalists.
The prosecutor –, like the court –, indicated that they took part in the „hybrid war”, aimed both at destabilizing the situation in Poland and in other European Union countries. Previously, they went to France and Germany, where they scattered and pasted leaflets with content ridiculing and discrediting those in power and their defense policy.
Prok. Dudek recalled that the court noted that the events in Poland coincided with the announcements by Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin in mid-2023 that the Wagner Group was on the border with Poland and intended to go on a „trip” to our country. And the – defendants, by spreading leaflets and mediating in the recruitment of –, were to carry out the tasks indicated by the regime leaders themselves.
The trial of two Russians who unleashed several hundred „recruitment stickers” enabling direct contact with recruits to the Wagner group and worked for Russian intelligence will start before the District Court in Krakow.
– This was also intended to be destabilizing. It was intended to question the correctness and efficiency of the operation of both the authorities and the Polish state in general in the conduct of defense policy. – pointed out.
Defender of recruiters to the Wagner Group: their activities are more Olsen's gang
The appeal is also not ruled out by attorney. Dariusz Tokarczyk, defender of Andreja G. However, he did not want to answer questions about his client's motivation, and he assessed the activities of both defendants as resembling the activities of the Olsen gang .
The Russians came to Poland to recruit future Wagnerians
The court determined that the men had only come to Poland for a few days for recruitment purposes; nothing else connects them with our country In August 2023, they were detained by officers of the Internal Security Agency in Warsaw. They have distributed several hundred „recruitment stickers in the capital and in Krakow, wanting to encourage both Poles and foreigners staying in our country to serve.
They recruited for the Wagner Group. Prosecution: connections reached high
The men pleaded not guilty, although they did not deny that they had been taping apart the stickers. According to the National Prosecutor's Office, they were not randomly selected people (PK determined that their connections reached high political circles), but as agents they were consciously supposed to conduct disinformation and propaganda campaigns. And these, in turn, – contribute to Russia's attempt to destabilize the situation in the EU and force an end to aid to Ukraine.
The defense of the defendants demanded their acquittal, arguing that the entire Russian Federation as a totalitarian country cannot be tried in the ongoing trial, but specific people acting without being aware of what they are actually participating in.
Na kar? pi?? i pó? roku pozbawienia wolno?ci S?d Okr?gowy w Krakowie skaza? w pi?tek dwóch Rosjan, oskar?onych o rozklejenie kilkuset „wlepek werbunkowych”. M??
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