A 23-year-old Zambian student in Russia has died in Ukraine at the battlefront of the Russia-Ukraine war after being recruited into the army while serving a jail term.
Lemekani Nathan Nyirenda, a government-sponsored nuclear engineering student, was in 2020 convicted for nine years by the Russian court after he was found guilty of trafficking narcotics.
Mr Nyirenda worked for a courier company on part-time in Russia and whilst ferrying some parcels, he was searched by law enforcement officers who found narcotics in his custody and was consequently slapped with a prison sentence out of which he served 2 years six months as at the time of his death.
Mr Nyirenda died on 22nd September 2022 while the Zambian government in Moscow was notified on November, 9th 2022 and his family has since been informed that his remains have been repatriated to Russia in readiness for further repatriation to Zambia.
Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Stanley Kakubo have told Journalists at a media briefing that the government has since written to the Russian government demanding an explanation on how a Zambian serving a jail sentence in that country found himself at the battlefront.
Source: mybrytnewsroom.com
