Three Dominicans in Panama are in Pretrial Detention for Recruiting Panamanians for the Russian-Ukrainian Conflict.
A total of six people have now been arrested for recruiting Panamanians to participate in the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Three people accused of belonging to a network that recruited people to participate in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict were provisionally detained this Friday, September 25, after the Public Prosecutor’s Office filed charges against them for the crimes of organized crime and human trafficking for labor exploitation. Judge Luis Ceballos filed charges and ordered the provisional detention of Dominicans Joselyn Ramírez, Rolando Newball and María Inés García. Ceballos accepted the request made by prosecutor Elizabeth Carrión, who indicated that the three defendants received transfers of more than $800,000 to recruit Panamanians willing to travel to the Russian Federation to fight in the war.
The prosecution argued that the Dominicans Ramirez, Newball, and Garcia are part of a criminal structure that recruited people who, in the end, did not receive any payment for going to the front. Prosecutor Carrión explained that this group contacted Octavio Carrillo, Rafael Ulises, and José Montenegro, all residents of the province of Bocas del Toro, through TikTok. They convinced them to travel to Panama City to obtain their passports, purchase airline tickets, and fill out the “contract to provide their services in the war.” According to the prosecution, the three victims were taken to a lodging site called Chellox Panama Airport, located in Tocumen, and from this place the recruiters managed payments through credit cards, and mobilized the recruits to get their passports and complete the travel procedures.
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There are now six people charged and arrested for the recruitment of Panamanians for the Russian-Ukrainian war.
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Recruiters offer payments of $2,000 and $3,000 to join the armed conflict.
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The prosecution claims that once on the war front, the victims’ passports are taken away.
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Authorities say six Panamanians have died in the war and another 15 are missing.
However, during their stay at the hostel, two of the victims left and contacted the police, suspecting that they might be being exploited for labor. According to the investigations, José Montenegro, one of the victims, did travel to Russia, and once there he was never paid the $2,000 that was promised to him, so he requested help from the Panamanian Foreign Ministry and was repatriated. Investigations reveal that Ramírez, the alleged leader of the group, made several trips to Colombia, where he received instructions and money to operate in Panama.
Judge Ceballos considered that the evidence presented at the hearing by the prosecution strongly suggests his participation in a criminal structure dedicated to human trafficking for labor exploitation. Ceballos considered that in this case, provisional detention is the most proportionate precautionary measure, since those affected were humble people who were looking to obtain paid work and became victims of a crime.
A young man from Chiriquí is accused of being recruited under false pretenses to participate in the war between Russia and Ukraine.
The defense of the accused argued that the provisional detention measure is excessive, since the prosecution is still in an early stage of the investigation and could not prove the existence of a criminal network dedicated to labor exploitation. The prosecution has already filed charges against six people related to the fraudulent recruitment of Panamanians to participate in the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
