By Tom Westcott.
Tripoli, 14 August 2013:
Nineteen Ukrainians sentenced to ten years’ hard labour after being found guilty of working as Qaddafi . . .[restrict]mercenaries today had their convictions cancelled by the Supreme Military Court.
“Their sentences have been cancelled with immediate effect,” a Ukrainian diplomatic source told the Libya Herald, “they had been sentenced by a military court and their cases will now be transferred to a civilian court.”
He said that the original ruling, which he described as “ten years’ hard labour for nothing” was excessive.
The Ukrainians were sentenced, along with three Belarusians and one Russian, in June last year, for helping Qaddafi forces repair military installations to be used against NATO aircraft during the revolution. The defendants have maintained that they were in Libya as oil field workers.
In an interview in September last year, Ukrainian ambassador, Mykola Nahorny, told the Libya Herald: “We have credible information to show that they were not fighting mercenaries or snipers. They were oil sector workers who were forced at gun point to work in the Air Force to maintain radars.”
It is not yet known when the cases will be heard by a civilian court. However, with all the necessary legal procedures and formalities, this is expected to take some time. [/restrict]
