{"id":5121,"date":"2026-02-26T20:36:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T20:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/02\/26\/kenyan-man-charged-with-duping-people-to-fight-for-russia-in-ukraine-war\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T20:36:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T20:36:18","slug":"kenyan-man-charged-with-duping-people-to-fight-for-russia-in-ukraine-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/02\/26\/kenyan-man-charged-with-duping-people-to-fight-for-russia-in-ukraine-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenyan man charged with duping people to fight for Russia in Ukraine war"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Kenya\u2019s director of public prosecutions office says Festus Omwamba is accused of human trafficking.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>A Kenyan man has been charged with human trafficking for allegedly recruiting people to fight for the Russian army in Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>Kenya\u2019s Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ODPP_KE\/status\/2027032537470488809\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> on Thursday that Festus Omwamba is accused of sending 22 \u201cKenyan youths to Russia for exploitation by means of deception\u201d as the director of a recruitment agency.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 4 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/25\/will-ethiopia-be-part-of-israels-hexagon-alliance-rivalling-its-enemies\">Will Ethiopia be part of Israel\u2019s \u2018hexagon\u2019 alliance rivalling its enemies?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/26\/russia-ukraine-war-list-of-key-events-day-1463\">Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,463<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/26\/kenya-arrests-suspect-in-duping-men-to-fight-for-russia-in-ukraine-war\">Kenya arrests suspect in duping men to fight for Russia in Ukraine war<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 4 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/26\/afghanistan-says-it-launches-attacks-against-pakistan\">Afghanistan launches attacks against Pakistan, draws \u2018immediate response\u2019<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>The DPP said the victims were rescued in an operation\u00a0from 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.<\/p>\n<p>Omwamba pleaded not guilty to the charges in an appearance at the Kahawa Law Courts in Kiambu.<\/p>\n<p>His lawyer, Bonaventure Otieno, said, \u201cThere\u2019s no case,\u201d and described it as being based on \u201cspeculations\u201d, the AFP news agency reports.<\/p>\n<p>The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DCI_Kenya\/status\/2026759502511681933\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> Omwamba was believed to be a \u201ckey player in a more extensive human trafficking syndicate that exploits vulnerable individuals by promising them legitimate employment opportunities in European countries.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He was arrested in Moyale, near the Ethiopian border in the north of the country, earlier this month.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4341493\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4341493\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/reuters_69a081d4-1772126676.jpg?w=770&#038;resize=770%2C493&#038;quality=80\" alt=\"Festus Omwamba sits on the day of his appearance at the Kahawa Law Courts to hear charges of recruiting Kenyans into the Russian armed forces, in Kiambu, Kenya, February 26, 2026. REUTERS\/Monicah Mwangi\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4341493\">Festus Omwamba at the Kahawa Law Courts in Kiambu, Kenya, February 26, 2026 [Monicah Mwangi\/Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The prosecutor, Kennedy Amwayi, told the court the case \u201chas attracted public interest both locally and internationally; therefore, the public demands accountability following the loss of life in Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"hundreds-of-kenyans-join-russian-army\">Hundreds of Kenyans join Russian army<\/h2>\n<p>More than 1,000 Kenyans have joined the Russian army in recent months, according to a National Intelligence Service (NIS) report released last week. In many cases, they were promised jobs in Russia before being forced to sign army contracts and sent to fight in Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>MP Kimani Ichung\u2019wah, who presented the NIS findings in parliament, said 89 Kenyans are still on the front line, 39 have been hospitalised and 28 are missing in action. He accused Russian embassy officials of working with recruitment agencies and trafficking syndicates.<\/p>\n<p>The Russian embassy in Nairobi denied the accusations, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/photo?fbid=1347002700805120&#038;set=pcb.1347000374138686\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">saying<\/a> they were a \u201cdangerous and misleading propaganda campaign\u201d. It said no tourist visas were given to people intending to fight in Ukraine, adding that Russian law does not \u201cpreclude citizens of foreign countries from voluntarily enlisting in the armed forces.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In July last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree allowing foreigners to serve in the army during draft periods.<\/p>\n<p>Separately on Thursday, South Africa reported that two of its citizens were killed on the front lines. The foreign affairs ministry said in a statement that these were separate from the 17 South Africans tricked into fighting for Russia, who have largely been repatriated.<\/p>\n<p>Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola <a href=\"https:\/\/dirco.gov.za\/minister-lamola-meets-with-families-of-repatriated-citizens\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> that while the details surrounding their recruitment were under investigation, \u201ccircumstances that led to this situation were highly irregular\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf a job offer abroad sounds too good to be true, it probably is,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kenya\u2019s director of public prosecutions office says Festus Omwamba is accused of human trafficking. A Kenyan man has been charged with human trafficking for allegedly recruiting people to fight for the Russian army in Ukraine. Kenya\u2019s Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) said on Thursday that Festus Omwamba is accused of sending 22 &#8230; <a title=\"Kenyan man charged with duping people to fight for Russia in Ukraine war\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/02\/26\/kenyan-man-charged-with-duping-people-to-fight-for-russia-in-ukraine-war\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Kenyan man charged with duping people to fight for Russia in Ukraine war\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}