INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
A Russian court sentenced a 72-year-old United States citizen accused of fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine to nearly seven years in
prison on Monday.Stephen Hubbard was sentenced to six years and 10 months by the Moscow City Court
brief trial held largely behind closed doors.The sentence took into account the fact that Hubbard has been in custody since April 2,
2022.His case only became public on September 27, when the trial began in Moscow
ordered the trial be behind closed doors.Prosecutors said that Hubbard was paid at least $1,000 a month to join a Ukrainian territorial
agencies reported that the defendant pleaded guilty.Westerners in custodyRussia's state-run TASS news agency said Hubbard had been living
in the Ukrainian city of Izium in the northeastern Kharkiv region since 2014.Russian forces took control of the city of 45,000 shortly after
the video, he looked disheveled, with a long beard and dirty nails.Another United States citizen was convicted in Russia on Monday
Robert Gilman was handed a term of seven years and one month in a maximum security penal colony
He was found guilty of attacking prison staff and a criminal investigator, Russian news agencies reported.He was previously convicted in
2022 of attacking a policeman while drunk in the western city of Voronezh and sentenced to four years and six months in prison, but it was
later reduced to three and a half years on appeal.While in jail, prosecutors alleged that he punched members of prison staff "in the head"
on two separate occasions and attacked a criminal investigator.Russia has arrested numerous Westerners in recent years on charges ranging
from espionage to petty theft, with some cases related to Moscow's war in Ukraine.They include Ksenia Karelina, a dual US-Russian citizen
who was arrested while visiting family in Russia and sentenced to 12 years in jail for donating around $50 to a Ukrainian organization.Two
Colombian citizens are also being held in Russia on charges of being "mercenaries" for Ukraine.Russia and the West held the largest
East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War on August 1
Russia traded journalists, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and Russian dissidents for several Russians, like arms
trader Viktor Bout, imprisoned for murder, espionage or other crimes.
