Hundreds of Tanzanians paid tribute on Friday January 27, during an emotional ceremony, to a student killed in Ukraine after being recruited in prison by the group of Russian private mercenaries Wagner.
Nemes Tarimo was serving a seven-year prison sentence for an undisclosed offense when Wagner recruited him in exchange for a salary and a promise that he would be released after the war, according to Tanzanian authorities.
Family drama
Following his death on October 24, his body arrived in Tanzania on Friday, greeted by tearful family members at Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam.
The tribute took place in the presence of government officials and representatives of the opposition Chadema party, which included Nemes Tarimo among its members. The student will be buried in the south of the country. He was the father of a three-year-old girl who is still in Russia.
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An uncle of Nemes Tarimo said he spoke to the student last year. “Tarimo called me and told me he was free and promised to go home in January. He also warned that I shouldn’t call him until he did.“, did he declare.
Recruitment in prison and diplomatic tensions
In recent months, men have been recruited from Russian prisons to fight on the front lines in Ukraine with the promise of lucrative salaries and reduced sentences.
A Zambian student also recruited by the Wagner group, Lemekhani Nyirenda, was also killed in Ukraine in September, which triggered diplomatic tensions and a demand for an explanation from Lusaka to Moscow.
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