Swiss military court sentences suspected Ukraine mercenary

Military court sentences possible Ukraine mercenary in Meilen ZH Keystone-SDA

A Swiss military court has sentenced a suspected Ukrainian mercenary to 18 months' imprisonment.

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

The sentence is suspended with a probationary period of four years.

With his statements on Swiss public broadcaster SRF, the 49-year-old said he was in the service of others, said the court president at the opening of the judgement.

+ Why a Swiss man is risking his life as a mercenary in Ukraine

The contribution was made of his own free will. There was also further evidence such as Instagram pictures, media reports and a Europol list of possible mercenaries.

The judgement is not yet final and can be appealed to the Court of Cassation.

The auditor, the military counterpart to the public prosecutor, demanded an unconditional prison sentence of six months for the Swiss citizen.

Service in another army is prohibited for Swiss citizens. The defence lawyer demanded an acquittal for lack of evidence.

First such Swiss trial

The accused did not attend the trial and is said to live in Israel. He also did not answer a questionnaire from the investigating judge. His mother testified in court that she had spoken to him on the phone the evening before. However, he had not wanted to reveal where he was.

+ How Swiss mercenaries paid for peace and prosperity

According to his own statements, the accused fought for an international volunteer force alongside the Ukrainian army against Russia. According to the indictment, he is said to have served at least between February 2022 and December 2024.

The hearing was the first trial against an alleged Ukrainian mercenary in Switzerland.

Adapted from German by DeepL/mga

How we work

We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication.  

Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.

If you have any questions about how we work, write to us at [e-mail].