The Supreme Court of the so-called Luhansk “People’s Republic,” located on the Russian-occupied territory of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, sentenced Polish citizen Krzysztof Flaczek to 13 years in prison on charges of “mercenarism.”
The sentence, which was announced by the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation, was met with protests from the human rights group Memorial, which pointed out the fact that the Geneva Conventions do not classify foreign contract soldiers like Flaczek as mercenaries.
According to the prosecution, Flaczek arrived in Ukraine in September 2024, where he underwent training and was supplied with weapons, ammunition, and military gear. He then took part in combat operations on the side of Ukrainian forces. Russian investigators claim he did so in exchange for monetary compensation.
According to materials from the occupation prosecutor’s office of the “Luhansk People’s Republic,” Flaczek is alleged to have fought in the Kramatorsk, Artemivsk, and Kreminna districts of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions. It is claimed that he received between 20,000 and 150,000 hryvnias per month. (Indeed, such sums are comparable to those received by other Ukrainian soldiers, depending on their roles and proximity to the front lines).
In November 2024, Flaczek was taken prisoner during fighting near the city of Chasiv Yar. After that, Russian authorities said his “criminal activity was stopped,” and the case was sent to court.
The case was heard under the article on mercenarism (Part 3, Article 359 of the Russian Criminal Code), which Russian courts regularly use against foreign citizens fighting in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). At the same time, the human rights project Memorial notes that the Geneva Conventions do not classify soldiers like Flaczek as mercenaries, as he was serving in AFU under the same circumstances and with the same pay as Ukrainian citizens.
Flaczek, who is currently being held in Pretrial Detention Center No. 1 in Luhansk, has been included on Memorial’s list of victims of political repression.
Also of note, on Aug. 25, 2025, the Kremlin-controlled news agency RIA Novosti reported that after being taken prisoner, Flaczek had switched sides in order to fight for Russia as part of the “Separate Volunteer Battalion named after Maksim Krivonos.” The unit is said to consist of former members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who “formed a liberation movement and are fighting the authorities of Ukraine.” However, in coverage of the recent sentence by Russian state bodies and propaganda outlets (including RIA Novosti), this “fact” is omitted, suggesting that the earlier story was part of a deliberate attempt to discredit Flaczek for propaganda purposes.
