Court in DNR sentenced in absentia Mamulashvili, the founder of the Georgian Legion, to 23 years in prison

The Supreme Court of the Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) has sentenced in absentia Ushangi Mamulashvili, who recruited mercenaries for the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). This was reported by the prosecutor's office of the DNR on Tuesday, November 26.

The court found that Mamulashvili from April 2014 to May 2024 recruited, trained and armed foreign mercenaries to participate in the Ukrainian conflict, receiving more than 23 million rubles for this. In April 2022, he also gave an interview in which he spread misinformation about the Russian Armed Forces (AF).

Mamulashvili was found guilty under part 1 of article 359 of the Russian Criminal Code, point "e" of part 2 of article 207.3 of the Russian Criminal Code and part 3 of article 359 of the Russian Criminal Code.

Three Georgian citizens - Giorgi Rusitashvili, Nodar Petriashvili and Vano Nadiradze - were also sentenced in absentia. It was established that from February 2022 to July 2024 the men took part in hostilities as mercenaries in the Georgian National Legion. For this, each of them received remuneration ranging from Br3.1 million to Br7.1 million.

All three men were found guilty under part 3 of article 359 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

"Taking into account the position of the state prosecutor, the court sentenced Rusitashvili, Petriashvili, Nadiradze in absentia to 14 years in prison each. Mamulashvili was sentenced to 23 years of imprisonment. All of them will serve their sentences in a strict regime penal colony," the department said.

The criminal case against the creator of the "Georgian National Legion" was initiated by the Investigative Committee (IC) of the Russian Federation on July 28, 2023. It was noted that charges were also brought against three Ukrainian military commanders - Yevhen Moisyuk, Andriy Kovalchuk and Igor Palagnyuk.