Two ex-German soldiers sentenced for trying to train mercenaries to be sent to Yemen

Oct. 24 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Two former German soldiers have been sentenced by the Higher Regional Court in Stuttgart to 18 and 14 months in prison for attempting to train a group of mercenaries to be sent to the war in Yemen in the pay of Saudi Arabia. The sentences are suspended and the two convicted will spend two years on probation.

The two ex-military tried to create a 150-member mercenary group made up of both ex-military and active-duty soldiers in what they see as a market with high demand. Official sources have warned that if they had been successful in their project they would have been considered a terrorist organization.

The German Federal Prosecutor’s Office has highlighted the importance of this sentence because it sets a precedent for Germans who participate in military combat abroad.

The two men, aged 53 and 61, were arrested last year in Munich after unsuccessfully trying to contact authorities in Saudi Arabia, a country they considered a potential investor.

“The defendants did not achieve anything at all,” the court said in its sentence, which will not be appealed by the prosecution or the defense, so it is now final.

The war in Yemen pits the internationally recognized government, now represented by the Presidential Leadership Council and supported by the international coalition led by Saudi Arabia, against the Houthis, backed by Iran. The Houthis control the capital, Sanaa, and parts of the north and west of the country in what is already one of the worst humanitarian crises on the planet.