The Zambian student had been recruited by the Russians to fight in Ukraine: hundreds of people paid tribute to him on Tuesday January 24 during a ceremony in Lusaka, capital of the southern African country, on the eve of his burial.
Lemekhani Nyirenda, 23, was serving a nine-year prison sentence near Moscow for a drug case. He was killed in September in Ukraine, fighting on the Russian side.
"Death as a hero" according to Wagner
Zambia had demanded from Russia at the end of 2022 that it provide explanations on the circumstances of his death.
The paramilitary group Wagner, which has just been designated by the United States as an international criminal organization, then admitted having recruited the young man in prison, claiming that he died “
a hero
”.
Come back to the country
The body was repatriated in December but the relatives of Lemekhani Nyirenda took the time, before organizing a funeral, to make sure that it was indeed his remains, explained to the journalists the spokesman of the family present at the ceremony.
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“
Like when you die in a car accident, there may be parts missing.
But overall we have the remains of Lemekhani
,” said Ian Banda.
According to the father of the young man, the latter planned to return to Zambia.
He had been hired as a courier in Russia to finance part of his studies.
Russian authorities discovered that he was carrying drugs.
His burial, in a private ceremony, is scheduled for Wednesday in Rufunsa, about 2:30 a.m. east of Lusaka.
