The 2nd Western District Military Court at an off-site session in the Kursk Regional Court sentenced 22-year-old British citizen James Scott Rees Anderson* to 19 years of imprisonment, the press service of the regional courts reported. He must spend the first five years in prison, and the remaining term in a high-security colony, the Briton was found guilty of «mercenarism» and «terrorism». According to the court, Anderson pleaded guilty, and the process itself was held in a closed session.
The court reported that a soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who was in the same unit with the Briton, was questioned as a witness.
The accusation states that in mid-November 2024, Anderson illegally crossed the Russian border as part of an «armed formation» and entered the territory of the Kursk region, where participants «committed criminal acts against the civilian population».
In January, Anderson was added to the Rosfinmonitoring register of «terrorists and extremists».
In a recording after being captured, which was distributed by z-bloggers, the young man says he served in the British army from 2019 to 2023, after which he decided to join the Foreign Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
As noted by «Mediazona»**, in early February, the 2nd Western District Military Court registered the first 10 cases of «mercenarism» against foreigners in the court's history, most of them to be tried in absentia.
The first in absentia sentence in a case of «mercenarism» after the invasion of the Kursk region was handed down in the regional court back in December 2024. At that time, New Zealander Jordan O'Brien was sentenced to 14 years in a high-security colony, who, according to the investigation, illegally entered the Kursk region in August.
* Included in the register of «terrorists and extremists».
** Recognized in Russia as a «foreign agent».
Photo: RIA Novosti