The DPR Prosecutor's Office has sent a case against former Speaker of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Ashton-Cirillo to court.

The Prosecutor's Office of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) has sent to court a criminal case against Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, a former representative of the territorial defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) (included in the Rosfinmonitoring list of terrorists and extremists), who is accused of spreading false information about the Russian army. This was announced on April 7 by the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation.

"The prosecutor's office <...> has approved a criminal indictment against Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, a 47-year-old citizen of the United States of America. She is charged in absentia under clause "d" of Part 2 of Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Public dissemination of knowingly false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation"), part 3 of Article 359 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Participation of a mercenary in an armed conflict"), — stated in a message on the agency's website.

It is specified that Ashton-Cirillo arrived in Ukraine and voluntarily joined the local International Legion. She received military training and was also provided with special equipment. The mercenary took part in combat operations against Russian military personnel.

In addition, Ashton-Cirillo has prepared a video about the alleged use of biological weapons by the Russian Armed Forces during a special military operation. The amount of remuneration received by Ashton-Cirillo exceeded 653 thousand rubles.

"The mercenary has been put on the international wanted list, and a preventive measure in the form of detention has been chosen in absentia by the court," the department added.

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Earlier, on March 28, 36-year-old US citizen Robert Anthony Vardaro was sentenced in absentia in the DPR to seven years in prison for participating in the conflict on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). It was noted that until June 2022, he participated in the conflict on the side of the Ukrainian security forces against the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The amount of remuneration received exceeded 346 thousand rubles.