The Supreme Court of Donetsk, a Russian court installed in occupied Ukrainian territory, sentenced this Wednesday a Colombian to 19 years in prison, after being accused of fighting in the Ukrainian ranks in exchange for a monetary compensation and attempt to assassinate five Russian soldiers and being found guilty of participating “as a mercenary in an armed conflict.”
According to a statement from the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, The 42-year-old man, identified as Óscar Mauricio Blanco López, signed a contract with the Ukrainian army in May 2024 to participate in the “fight against the Russian armed forces”, and was captured in the Donetsk region in December 2024. Now He will serve his sentence in a high security prison, according to the Russian news agency TASS.
Blanco López, according to Russian sources, He fully admitted his guilt and assured that he decided to become a mercenary due to financial difficulties he was experiencing in Colombia. Last week, another court in Donetsk sentenced British Hayden William Davis to 13 years in prison for “mercenarism,” and has previously also sentenced Czechs, Americans and Britons.
“Kidnapped” in Ukraine
Russia systematically considers foreigners who fight with the Ukrainian army as “mercenaries”, a crime punishable by its legislation. Already in June, the Russian Justice had sentenced the Colombian Pablo Puentes Borges to 28 years in prison for fighting alongside the Ukrainian forces who had been deployed in the Russian Kursk region.
At the beginning of December, the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, asked his country’s intelligence services to contact the Government of Ukraine to obtain the “freedom” of Colombian men supposedly “kidnapped” in Ukraine.
“These deceived Colombians seem to be kidnapped,” said Petro, who ordered to contact the president of Ukraine and “ask him to release the Colombian fighters so that they return to their homeland.”
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