NAIROBI: A Kenyan man has been charged with human trafficking for allegedly recruiting people to fight for the Russian army in Ukraine.
Kenya’s Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) said on Thursday that Festus Omwamba is accused of sending 22 “Kenyan youths to Russia for exploitation by means of deception” as the director of a recruitment agency.
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The DPP said the victims were rescued in an operation from an apartment complex in Athi River, a town in Machakos County, last September, before they could leave the country. But three others who had allegedly already left Kenya ended up on the front line of the Russia-Ukraine war and later returned with injuries, it said.
Omwamba pleaded not guilty to the charges in an appearance at the Kahawa Law Courts in Kiambu.
His lawyer, Bonaventure Otieno, said, “There’s no case,” and described it as being based on “speculations”, the AFP news agency reports.