A homemade coffin carrying the body of a Zambian student who died fighting in Ukraine after being enlisted in a Russian jail arrived at his home on Sunday.
A white, glass-paneled hearse with tiny curtains providing a partial view of the container holding the body arrived on the tarmac at Lusaka airport, where bereaved relatives waited, as seen by AFP journalists.
The coffin’s provenance was revealed by a code and Cyrillic letters scrawled on it in black marker pen.
Lemekhani Nathan Nyirenda died in September while participating in combat for Russia in Ukraine, where he eventually ended up after serving time in prison. Zambia this month sought an urgent explanation from Moscow in response.
The 23-year-old was a student of nuclear engineering at the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute when he was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison for a narcotics offence in April 2020.
Two weeks after Zambia requested information, the Wagner paramilitary group in Russia acknowledged recruiting him for Moscow’s “special operation” in Ukraine and added that he enlisted voluntarily before passing away “a hero.”
Zambian Foreign Minister Stanley Kakubo stated earlier this month that a prisoner may be pardoned under Russian law specifically for a “special military action.”
At the airport, tearful family members, including the student’s parents and sibling, embraced one another while a choir led those in attendance in religious chants.
The family refused to speak with the media. According to a family spokesman, the body would be taken to a morgue for an autopsy and burial would take place later.
Kakubo stated on Friday that the topic of providing the family with compensation for the loss would be handled “in due time.”
