1. Brahim Saadoune is a Moroccan student who joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces as a fighter-volunteer.
26 Facts About Brahim Saadoune
1. 2.
On September 21,2022, Brahim Saadoune was released in a prisoner exchange deal mediated by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.
3.
Brahim Saadoune's father, Tahar, was a veteran of the Royal Moroccan Gendarmerie from Safi.
4.
Tahar had served as head of investigations in Agadir, where Brahim Saadoune finished primary school before moving to Casablanca.
5.
Brahim Saadoune moved to Ukraine in 2019 and studied Russian at the Poltava University of Economics and Trade.
6.
Brahim Saadoune had decided to study in Ukraine due to the quality of education and cost.
7.
Brahim Saadoune later studied aeronautical engineering at the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute's Institute of Aerospace Technologies.
8.
Brahim Saadoune was allegedly given Ukrainian nationality in 2020 after undergoing a year of military training as a requirement to access aerospace technology.
9.
At the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Morocco launched a major repatriation campaign, it was initially planned for Brahim Saadoune to have been repatriated to Morocco through Poland.
10.
In November 2021, Brahim Saadoune signed a three-year contract with the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
11.
Brahim Saadoune had joined the army to "fight injustice", as well as to gain military experience.
12.
Shaun Pinner had helped Brahim Saadoune join the armed forces over Facebook.
13.
Brahim Saadoune surrendered and was later captured by Russian forces on March 12,2022, during the Battle of Volnovakha.
14.
An interview with Brahim Saadoune was broadcast on Channel One Russia, where he was portrayed as a mercenary.
15.
The day after his sentencing, Brahim Saadoune told Russia Today that he "didn't know what was going to happen", and that he "was ready for anything".
16.
Ukrainian friends of Brahim Saadoune called on the UK to help him get released.
17.
The court said it was considering the issue of jurisdiction, as Brahim Saadoune was being held by the internationally unrecognized DPR.
18.
The Moroccan Embassy in Kyiv released a brief statement saying that Brahim Saadoune "enlisted in the Ukrainian army of his own free will", and is "currently imprisoned by an entity which is recognized neither by the United Nations nor by Morocco".
19.
The statement claimed that Brahim Saadoune had "Ukrainian citizenship", and he was "captured wearing the uniform of the State Army of Ukraine".
20.
Brahim Saadoune urged "the Moroccan government, a country that moved a mountain to save Rayan a few months ago, to intervene".
21.
The Moroccan Association for Human Rights provided lawyers to Brahim Saadoune and was planning to observe his appeal, the association elaborated that Brahim Saadoune was a resident and didn't have Ukrainian citizenship.
22.
Brahim Saadoune's sister said local press in Morocco and people on social media had celebrated her brother's sentence, as pro-Russian views are more common in the Middle East and Africa than in Europe.
23.
On September 21,2022, Brahim Saadoune was released with 9 other detainees held by the Donetsk People's Republic in a prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia brokered by Saudi Arabia.
24.
Brahim Saadoune was in the process of appealing his case, his family had not been previously informed of the prisoner exchange.
25.
Brahim Saadoune arrived in Casablanca and reunited with his family on September 24,2022, following a medical checkup in Riyadh.
26.
Brahim Saadoune said that he had "suffered from imprisonment but will recover and get back to studying".