Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine have captured a United States citizen for allegedly taking part in pro-Ukrainian rallies, accusations that his friends and family deny, The Guardian reported Wednesday.Suedi Murekezi, 35, is the third American national known to be held by pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraines separatist-controlled city of Donetsk.
He had moved to Ukraine in pursuit of a cryptocurrency venture after serving eight years in the United States Air Force, according to The Guardian.Murekezis friends noticed his disappearance in the southern Ukrainian port city of Kherson, which Russian forces captured in the early weeks of the war, sometime around June 8.He was spotted two days later being forced to declare glory to the Russian army in a video circulating on the separatist Telegram channels.
Pro-Russian rebels have not publicly spoken about Murekezis detention.Murekezi reportedly told his brother on the phone that he is being falsely accused of participating in pro-Ukrainian protests.I know for a fact that he did not go out and protest, Leo De Lang, a Dutch friend of Murekezi, told The Guardian.They are using him as a pawn for their own propaganda purposes, his brother Sele said.Murekezi, who was born in Rwanda and immigrated to the United States after the 1994 genocide, faces the added danger of racial discrimination, his friends say.Murekezi is reportedly being held with two other United States military veterans, Alexander Drueke and Andy Huynh, who had been fighting alongside the Ukrainian army.The Kremlin haslabeled Drueke and Huynh soldiers of fortune and vowed criminal retribution for endangering the lives of Russian soldiers.Three other foreign fighters, two Britons and one Moroccan, have been sentenced to death on mercenary charges.
The head of the separatist Donetsk Peoples Republic said Wednesday that the execution would be carried out by firing squad.Murekezi is unlikely to be tried as a mercenary as there is no evidence to suggest he had fought against Russian soldiers, The Guardian reported.The United States State Department said it was aware of reports of Murekezis detention but did not comment further due to privacy considerations.The exact number of Americans held by pro-Russian rebels is unknown.Project Dynamo, a United States nonprofit specializing in evacuating Americans from Afghanistan and Ukraine, hassaid it had rescued a number of United States citizens alongside Ukrainian civilians during the conflict.Bryan Stern, the projects co-founder, said Murekezi is in peril because the Donetsk Peoples Republic has the death penalty and doesnt adhere to international norms.