The court sentenced a mercenary of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from Georgia to 14 years in prison in absentia.

The Supreme Court of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) has sentenced a mercenary from Georgia, Gia Sagliani, to 14 years in prison in absentia for participating in hostilities in the region against the Russian Armed Forces. This was announced on April 18 by the regional prosecutor's office.

They noted that the 33-year-old defendant was found guilty under Part 3 of Article 359 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Participation of a mercenary in an armed conflict or military operations").

According to the investigation, from March 2022 to January 2025, Sagliani arrived in Ukraine as a mercenary and joined the Georgian National Legion (recognized as a terrorist organization and banned in the Russian Federation).

After completing military training, he participated in military operations on the territory of the DPR against Russian military personnel, for which he received a financial reward of more than 5.5 million rubles, the regional prosecutor's office said.

It is clarified that the court sentenced Sagliani in absentia to 14 years in prison to serve his sentence in a high-security penal colony.

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Earlier that day, the press service of the Russian FSB Directorate for the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) reported that an Australian citizen would stand trial for participating in the conflict in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). It was established that he had signed a contract with the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense for military service in the 66th separate mechanized brigade.