Photo: gettyimages.com
Swiss citizen John Neidhart, who fought against Russian troops on the side of Ukraine for two years as part of the International Legion, was arrested in Bern.
As the Swiss publication Blick writes, whose journalists were present on June 14 If Neidhart is detained, according to local laws he faces up to three years in prison for serving in a foreign army, Hromadske reports.
John Neidhart, 36, who was a machine gunner in the Ukrainian army for two years, did this voluntarily to further draw attention to Ukraine during the Peace Summit, which took place in Switzerland.
The summit itself, according to Neidhart, is not should be taken seriously, since Ukraine must be given the opportunity to win on the battlefield.
— This conference — joke. If you really want to help Ukraine, you must give it the opportunity to defeat the Russians militarily. You must first break the Russians, and then negotiate with them, and not vice versa— he believes.
Neidhart is from Zurich, worked as a high school teacher, and on March 9, 2022 he joined the International Legion, with which he participated in the counter-offensive in the Kharkov region, in the battle for Kupyansk and fought for a long time near Bakhmut.
In February, the military justice of Switzerland opened a case against Neidhart, but the man is not afraid of prison and jokingly adds:
— After more than two years at the front, I can sleep anywhere.
Die @PoliceBern hat am Freitag den Schweizer #Ukraine-Söldner Jona Neidhart verhaftet. Dem Zürcher, der im Donbass gekämpft hat, droht jahrelange Haft. Tags zuvor reiste er in die Schweiz ein. @Blickch war dabei. Das Protokoll einer seltenen Festnahme: https://t.co/CbOMYHF3Fn
— Samuel Schumacher (@sam_schumacher) June 15, 2024
Prepared by: Sergey Daga