HARARE – A 48-year-old Zimbabwean man has been remanded in custody after he was arrested on allegations recruiting job seekers with promises of lucrative employment in Russia before they were allegedly forced to fight as mercenaries in the war in Ukraine, leaving one recruit dead.
Oscar Sifelani Mtshiya appeared before Harare magistrate Jesse Kufa on Friday facing five counts of trafficking in persons and operating an unregistered employment agency.
He was remanded in custody to July 8 for a bail determination.
The National Prosecuting Authority alleged that Mtshiya worked with four Russia-based accomplices who remain at large to recruit five Zimbabweans between January and June this year.
Prosecutors allege the victims were deceived into believing they would secure well-paying jobs as firefighters and other civilian positions, including work linked to Russia’s defence ministry.
Instead, the prosecution says, the recruits were stripped of their travel documents after arriving in Russia, subjected to labour exploitation, forced to undergo seven days of firearms training and deployed to fight in the Ukraine war as mercenaries.
One of the five alleged recruits died during deployment in the conflict.
The remaining victims are reportedly still in Russia, where Zimbabwean authorities, through the Department of Social Welfare and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, are attempting to facilitate their return home.
Investigators allege Mtshiya coordinated the victims’ travel by distributing airline tickets and visas allegedly processed by his Russian associates. He is also accused of receiving money through his EcoCash account from the alleged accomplices and forwarding some of the funds to the recruits to cover transport costs to Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport in Harare and Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport in Bulawayo.
Mtshiya is charged under Zimbabwe’s Trafficking in Persons Act for allegedly recruiting, facilitating and assisting the trafficking of the victims.
He also faces five counts of operating an employment agency without registration under the Labour Act.
