CNN
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The Zambian university student who died in struggle in Ukraine was buried Wednesday in a non-public ceremony in his home state, a family spokesman explained to CNN.
Lemekani Nathan Nyirenda died on the frontlines of the Ukraine war even though fighting for Russian mercenary group Wagner in September final year.
His family members agent Dr. Ian Banda spoke to CNN Wednesday morning as the loved ones headed to Nyirenda’s closing resting put in his village.
“We are going to bury him now…. We are in a convoy… His (Nyirenda’s) mother and father are in a automobile behind me. They are crying right now,” Banda explained to CNN.
Nyirenda’s overall body was returned to Zambia final month. On arrival on December 11, his continues to be ended up transported to Zambia’s University Instructing Medical center Mortuary for submit-mortem checks in compliance with Zambian laws.
“The funeral gathering at the Nyirenda loved ones home, burial and memorial support formalities shall only commence upon completion of the aforementioned mandatory statutory procedures,” a household assertion explained at the time.
Banda told CNN forensic investigation carried out on Nyirenda’s overall body had been “confirmed,” with no releasing even further details.
Nyirenda is not the to start with African student killed in the Ukrainian battlefront preventing for Russia in a advancement that has sparked fury across the continent.
A Tanzanian nationwide, determined as Nemes Tarimo by his country’s overseas ministry, was killed very last Oct last although fighting with Wagner in trade for money and amnesty, the ministry mentioned in a statement on Tuesday.
Tarimo was a master’s university student at the Moscow Technological College, studying Small business Informatics in advance of being despatched to jail for 7 a long time for undisclosed prison fees in March final year, the ministry stated, incorporating that his entire body had been dispatched from Russia and was anticipated to arrive in Tanzania soon for burial.
Nyirenda, 23, was sponsored by the Zambian governing administration to examine nuclear engineering at the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute but was convicted in 2020 of unspecified crimes in Russia and imprisoned for 9 many years and six months, Zambia’s foreign ministry reported in a assertion saying his demise in November.
In a comply with-up assertion past thirty day period, the ministry defined Nyirenda was pardoned by the Russian authorities in August “to be a part of a navy procedure in trade for amnesty” and “was killed in September 2022 although participating in armed forces functions.”
Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary team admitted to recruiting Nyirenda from a Russian jail, indicating he chose to fight to “repay (Africa’s) debts” to Russia and “died a hero.”