Rico Krieger, 29, will be executed with a bullet in the back of the head if his sentence is carried out (Picture: Rico Krieger/AP)
A German citizen faces execution in Belarus after being found guilty of terrorism and mercenary activity in ‘Europe’s last dictatorship’.
Detention of foreign nationals on charges often dismissed as dubious has become a theme of diplomacy practiced by Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent years.
There are fears Berlin-born Rico Krieger, a 29, has become the latest to find themselves a geopolitical pawn since his arrest in Belarus on November 6.
Germany’s government said: ‘The Foreign Office and the embassy in Minsk are giving the person in question consular support and are working intensively with Belarusian authorities on his behalf.’
Belarus, ruled for since 1994 by Putin’s most unwavering ally Aleksandr Lukashenko, has demanded Berlin accept its demands in return for Krieger’s life.
A spokesperson for Lukashenko’s government said: ‘Taking into account the request of the German foreign ministry, Belarus proposed concrete solutions on the available options.’
The details of these demands are as hazy as the charges brought against Krieger, a dad-of-one and former Red Cross medic, in a closed-door trial last month.
It’s believed they relate to Krieger’s alleged involvement with the Kalinouski Regiment, a group of anti-Lukashenko Belarusian exiles fighting for Ukraine, although they deny any connection with him.
The Kastus Kalinouski regiment, which has fought Russian forces on the frontlines near Bakhmut, denies any link to Krieger (Picture: Genya Savilov/AFP)
The suspicion is that Krieger has been commandeered as a bargaining chip to negotiate the release of Vadim Krasikov, a Russian intelligence agent jailed for killing a former Chechen independence fighter in Berlin in 2019.
Less than two years ago, Russia exchanged US basketball player Brittney Griner for arms dealer Viktor Bout, known as the ‘Merchant of Death’, who’d been held in an American prison for 12 years.
Griner had been spent nearly 10 months locked up on drug charges by the time of her release.
It’s not the first time Krasikov’s name has popped up in connection with a possible prisoner swap.
With Putin believed keen to secure hus release, Krasikov also been touted as a potential trade for US journalist Evan Gershkovich, who was sentenced to 16 years in a high-security penal colony earlier this week.
Found guilty of espionage in a secretive trial the American government described as a ‘sham’, he’s the first US journalist convicted of espionage in Russia since the Cold War ended more than 30 years ago.
Russia assassin Vadim Krasikov, 58, is believed to have shot dead former Chechen independence fighter Zelimkhan Khangoshvili on orders from Moscow (Picture: east2west news)
Since he was grabbed by security services while reporting for the Wall Street Journal, accused of spying for the CIA, last March, Gershkovich has been seen as a symbol of souring relations between Russia and The US.
But Krieger finds himself in a perhaps more perilous position as he’s been convicted in the only European country to retain the death penalty, even if just for men.
Sat between Poland and Russia, Belarus blindfolds its prisoners while they’re forced to kneel in a death chamber before they’re killed with a single bullet in the back of the head.
Not even a priest can be present when they take their last breath. A doctor confirms their death.
The right to pardon the condemned is reserved by Lukashenko, who’s exercised it only once in his 30 years in power, which he celebrated yesterday.
Putin praised Lukashenko’s ‘tremendous authority and prestige among compatriots’, which he’s maintained through mass arrests and violent crackdowns on dissent.
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