Libya sentences ex-Soviet ‘mercenaries’ who fought for Gadhafi

Special to WorldTribune.com

CAIRO — Libya has determined that nationals from former Soviet
republics served as mercenaries for the late Col. Moammar Gadhafi.

Officials said the National Transitional Council identified and arrested
a range of Russian and other nationals as fighters for Gadhafi in the war
in 2011.

A military court handed stiff prison terms to 19 Ukrainians, three nationals from Belarus and two Russians accused of serving as mercenaries for ousted leader Moammar Gadhafi in Libya's conflict last year.

The officials said many of them operated air defense and other military assets during the NATO bombings of Libya last summer.

On June 4, a Libyan military court sentenced 19 Ukrainians, three
nationals from Belarus and two Russians in wake of their conviction of fighting for Gadhafi. The court determined that a Russian defendant coordinated the operations of foreign nationals for the former regime.

Officials said the defendants were captured in August 2011 during the
rebel storming of Tripoli. They said the defendants, sentenced from 10 years to life, were in charge of preparing for the operation of Russian-origin air defense batteries against NATO fighter-jets, which included forces from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

During the trial, attended by the ambassadors of Belarus and Ukraine,
the defendants denied the charges. They said they had been recruited to work
in Libya’s oil sector.

Ukraine ambassador Mykola Nahornyi acknowledged that the defendants
helped Gadhafi’s military. But Nahornyi said the former regime forced the
defendants and others to leave their jobs in the oil sector and fight the
rebels.

“This is part of the case,” Nahornyi said.

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