WARSAW: Two Russian men arrested in Poland under espionage laws went on trial Wednesday for allegedly distributing propaganda for the Wagner mercenary group, a Polish court said.
Poland, a NATO member as well as Ukraine’s neighbor and its staunch ally, has repeatedly voiced concerns about Russia-inspired provocative actions on its soil.
The pair, identified by Polish counter-intelligence as Alexei T. and Andrei G., were detained in August 2023 for distributing leaflets for the Wagner group in Warsaw and Krakow.
The leaflets contained links to “recruitment websites” for Wagner, Russia’s most notorious mercenary group.
It was disbanded and reorganized after its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin died in a plane crash last year following an aborted mutiny in Russia.
The two suspects, who face up to 10 years in prison, appeared in a Krakow court on Wednesday, its spokeswoman told AFP.
Local media reported that the pair had distributed stickers promoting the once-powerful mercenary group.
The stickers bore the Wagner logo, a slogan in English saying “We are here. Join us,” and a QR code directing people to a Russian website about the mercenary group.
“The Russians had on them more than 3,000 propaganda leaflets promoting the Wagner group. The material was given to them in Moscow,” the Polish counter-intelligence agency said in August 2023.
The suspects were set to receive “up to 500,000 rubles” ($5,000) for their activities, it added.
Two Russians appear in Polish court over Wagner ‘propaganda’
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Two Russians appear in Polish court over Wagner ‘propaganda’
- The pair were detained in August 2023 for distributing leaflets for the Wagner group in Warsaw and Krakow
- The leaflets contained links to “recruitment websites” for Wagner, Russia’s most notorious mercenary group
Bangladesh says at least 287 killed during Hasina-era abductions
DHAKA: A Bangladesh commission investigating disappearances during the rule of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina said Monday at least 287 people were assumed to have been killed.
The commission said some corpses were believed to have been dumped in rivers, including the Buriganga in the capital, Dhaka, or buried in mass graves.
The government-appointed commission, formed after Hasina was toppled by a mass uprising in August 2024, said it had investigated 1,569 cases of abductions, with 287 of the victims presumed dead.
“We have identified a number of unmarked graves in several places where the bodies were presumably buried,” Nur Khan Liton, a commission member, told AFP.
“The commission has recommended that Bangladesh seek cooperation from forensic experts to identify the bodies and collect and preserve DNA samples from family members.”
In its final report, submitted to the government on Sunday, the commission said that security forces had acted under the command of Hasina and her top officials.
The report said many of those abducted had belonged to the country’s largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, or the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), both in opposition to Hasina.
In a separate investigation, police in December began exhuming a mass grave in Dhaka.
The grave included at least eight victims of the uprising against Hasina, bodies all found with bullet wounds, according to Criminal Investigation Department (CID) chief Md Sibgat Ullah.
The United Nations says up to 1,400 people were killed in crackdowns as Hasina attempted to cling to power.
She was sentenced to death in absentia in November for crimes against humanity.
“We are grateful for finally being able to know where our brother is buried,” said Mohamed Nabil, whose 28-year-old sibling Sohel Rana was identified as one of the dead in the grave in Dhaka.
“But we demand a swift trial for the police officials who shot at the people during the uprising.”
