In February 2022, Stephen Hubbard, 72, was charged with signing a contract of $1,000 per month with a Ukrainian territorial defense unit in the city of Izyum.
Soon after the conflict started in April of that year, he was taken prisoner by Russian forces.
When and how he got to Moscow are unknown.
Journalists were granted access to the ruling following a trial that took place in Moscow’s highest city court behind closed doors.
When Hubbard arrived in the courtroom, he appeared frail and was limping. He was from Michigan.
As the elderly man in handcuffs walked, a court official was heard to remark, “He doesn’t look like a mercenary.
Hubbard entered the defendant’s glass cage, referred to as the “aquarium,” escorted by bailiffs while wearing a black woolly cap, a white pullover, dark pants, and black sandals.
