Rico Krieger

Rico Krieger
Born	1994 or 1995 (age 29–30) Berlin, Germany
Occupations	Rescue medic Belarusian opposition saboteur
Employer	German Red Cross
Detention
Country	Belarus
Detained	6 October 2023
Trial	6 June 2024
Charge	"mercenary activity", "agent activity", + 4 other charges
Released	1 August 2024
Sentence	Death
Time held	9 months and 26 days

Rico Krieger is a German citizen, most notable for his reported sabotage work inside Belarus for the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment, subsequent detainment, and release during the 2024 Russian prisoner exchange.

Before his detainment, Krieger worked as a rescue medic for the German Red Cross, but reportedly had a desire to aid Ukraine after witnessing Russia's aggression during their invasion of Ukraine on the news. After contacting the SBU with a desire to join the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment, a Belarusian opposition military regiment, the SBU supposedly tasked Krieger with a reconnaissance and sabotage mission inside of Belarus as a prerequisite to joining, according to Belarusian authorities. On 2 October 2023, Krieger arrived in Belarus to allegedly take photos and record coordinates of military objects in the Mogilev Region. He reportedly ended his mission by detonating a bomb at the railway station in Asipovichy, damaging the tracks but causing no injuries. While attempting to leave the country on 6 October, Krieger was detained at Minsk National Airport.

His subsequent trial, which began eight months later on 6 June 2024, saw Krieger charged with six crimes: including "mercenary activity", "terrorism", and "agent activity". He was found guilty on all counts and given the death penalty through execution by firing squad, the first time this verdict had ever been given to a foreign citizen. The severity of the verdict was immediately challenged by the German government and human rights groups alike. On 25 July 2024, Krieger appeared on Belarusian state-run TV in a plea to ask Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko for a pardon, a move likely done in duress for propaganda purposes. The plea brought more attention to his case internationally, and by 30 July, Krieger was pardoned by Lukashenko. Two days later, he became part of the 2024 Russian prisoner exchange as the only Western prisoner coming from a nation other than Russia.

Biography

Krieger is a German citizen born in Berlin. He has one child, a daughter, who was under 18 years old at the time of his arrest. Between 2015 and 2016, Krieger worked for Pond Security at the US embassy in Berlin as an armed security officer, where he familiarized himself with operations security. During this time, Krieger reportedly had plans to apply for a US passport and emigrate to the US. He ended up leaving the embassy to work in healthcare as a nurse though, eventually specializing as a emergency medical technician (EMT).

Before his arrest, Krieger was a 29- or 30-year-old rescue medic for the German Red Cross (DRK), but reportedly also had intentions to serve as a military doctor in the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment, a Belarusian opposition military regiment formed to defend Ukraine after the Russian invasion in 2022, after witnessing the Russian aggression in the news. Through attempting to join the regiment, Krieger made contact with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), for which he later carried out his mission supposedly as a prerequisite to joining. This narrative presented by Belarus is likely false, however, as foreign volunteers for Ukraine have never been required to carry out such risky missions as an initiation to join. It is also unclear whether or not Krieger ever joined the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment before his arrest. In his later trial, Krieger was charged with "terrorism" for being part of the Regiment, designated as a terrorist organization by Belarus, with screenshots of encrypted emails trying to join the Regiment taken from Krieger's phone used as evidence to support this claim. According to a investigation by the BBC, however, the email addresses used were fake, and no actual communication between Krieger and the Regiment was ever presented in court. Furthermore, after being contacted, the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment replied "he is not our fighter" when referring to Krieger. In an August 2024 interview with former Belarusian police investigator Andrei Ostapovich, Ostapovich stated Krieger was more than likely approached by the Belarusian secret police (KGB) posing as the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment to lure out incriminating statements, something the KGB has a history of performing.

Activities leading to detention

The Asipovichy railway station in 2009, where the explosion took place in 2023

According to Belarusian authorities and confessions later made by Krieger (possibly under duress), Krieger received orders from the SBU no later than 20 September 2023 to carry out this mission. He arrived in Belarus on 2 October 2023 under the persona of a tourist, carrying phones and a drone. This was confirmed by the German Red Cross who later stated Krieger's travel to Belarus was unrelated to his work with them. Under the supposed orders from the Security Service of Ukraine, Krieger first traveled to the Mogilev Region, and then to the railway station in Asipovichy to take reconnaissance photos and record the coordinates of military objects. The city of Asipovichy and the surrounding area were all known locations for hosting Belarusian and Wagner PMC military elements, with the railway station serving as a crucial hub for transporting military equipment around the capital Minsk. These tasks were reportedly completed, and the data collected was sent to the SBU over the internet.

On 5 October, Krieger was reportedly instructed by the SBU by phone to find a pre-placed backpack filled with explosives, and place it on the railway. At 11:22 pm, Krieger reportedly carried out the explosion at the railway station in an attempt to "influence decision-making by authorities, intimidate the population, [and] destabilize public order" according to Belarusian authorities: crimes later reflected in his trial and sentencing. The explosion did not result in any death or injuries, but was powerful enough to be heard 8 km (5.0 mi) from the railway, and successfully damage the railway track and switching mechanism which connected the station's main line to the freight yard which handles military equipment. The following day on 6 October at the Minsk National Airport, Krieger was detained and placed under police custody while waiting for his flight back to Germany. No information about his detaining was released to the public until his trial began in June of the following year.

Trial and sentencing

On 6 June 2024, Krieger was put on trial at the Minsk Regional Court for breaking six articles of the Criminal Code of Belarus: for "mercenary activity" (article 133), "terrorism" (part 3 of article 289), "illegal actions with respect to firearms, ammunition, and explosives" (part 4 of article 295), "intentional disrepair of a vehicle or communication lines" (part 4 article 309), "agent activity" (article 358–1), and "joining an extremist formation in order to commit an extremist crime" (part 3 of article 361–1). Of the charges, Krieger only pleaded guilty to "agent activity", but refused to testify. The case was largely held as a public trial, but had some case materials discussed in secret, and was recorded by no independent media. The judge for the trial was Aleh Lapeka of the Regional Court, the state prosecutor was supported by Tatsiana Hrakun of Prosecutor General's Office, and Krieger's lawyer was Vladimir Gorbach who also worked partially as an interpreter as Krieger spoke neither Belarusian or Russian. Gorbach, along with others involved in the trial, refused to provide any further information or insight about the case. Evidence used against Krieger during the trial notably included testimony from the taxi driver who took Krieger to the station, recordings from surveillance cameras, and information collected from Krieger's phone, but notably no surveillance footage of Krieger actually placing the backpack on the tracks was shown. During the trial process, the German Ministry for Foreign Affairs provided Krieger with prison visits and some legal support. The trial was the first case for being a mercenary in Belarus history.

After twelve sessions, a verdict was reached on 24 June 2024 finding Krieger guilty of breaking all six articles, and he was sentenced to the death penalty through execution by firing squad. This was an increase from the originally planned sentencing if found guilty, which was 25 years in prison. Information regarding the outcome of the trial only leaked to human rights groups and the wider press much later on 19 July 2024, and the activities leading to his detention on 22 July. The verdict was the first time a foreign citizen had been given the death penalty in Belarus. Once the result of the verdict was released, human rights groups including the Viasna Human Rights Centre and International Federation for Human Rights immediately sought a lessening of Krieger's sentencing, citing previous uses of the death penalty in Belarus which had been reserved only for acts resulting in murder, something Krieger had not committed. Belarus is also the only country in Europe to still have the death penalty legal, which was another point fought by human rights groups, the German Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and the German chancellor Olaf Scholz as being inhumane. Exiled Belarusian activist Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya also condemned the use of the death penalty against Krieger.

Late on 25 July 2024, Krieger appeared in a 17-minute-long plead titled "Confession of a German terrorist" on the state-run television Belarus-1 in a cleaned jailcell in handcuffs, apologizing for his actions and asking the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko for a pardon. The plea ended with Krieger in tears, saying the bombing was his "worst mistake", and that he needed the German government to help him "before it's too late". Krieger spoke in German, but his words were voiced over by a Russian translator. The video, as pointed out by the BBC, Politico Europe, and Radio Free Europe, looked to be made in duress for propaganda purposes, as apology pleas on state media had become common for members of the opposition in recent years, often forced by the Belarusian secret police (KGB) through torture. False statements made by Krieger in the plea, including that he had cooperated with the SBU for a payment of €2,000 (US$2,180), a sum below what he regularly earned in Germany, support this claim. Furthermore, in the plea, a photo of Krieger from his LinkedIn account was used, but with a Ukrainian flag digitally added into the background to achieve a more dramatic effect.

Release

The aftermath of the prisoner exchange, with those released flying back to the United States (Krieger is not pictured)

According to Anatoly Glaz the state-run media Belarusian Telegraph Agency (BelTA), Belarus had "proposed a number of options" to free or lessen Krieger's sentencing to Germany. Speculation online suggested a prisoner swap likely was to take place by Germany to free Krieger, with imprisoned Russian FSB officer Vadim Krasikov a likely candidate. The idea of a larger prisoner swap between Russia and Belarus and the west further seemed likely after American journalist Evan Gershkovich was convicted of espionage in Russia, and sentenced up to 16 years in prison around the same time. Actions like these led news agencies including the BBC, Politico Europe, and The Guardian to accuse Russia of artificially increasing the amount of western prisoners in their custody in order to negotiate a more profitable exchange.

On 30 July 2024, Krieger was pardoned by Lukashenko using article 96 of the criminal code, and his death penalty lessened to at least a life sentence. Before making the pardon, Lukashenko reportedly met with five officials: Ivan Tertel, chairman of the KGB, Olga Chupris, deputy head of Lukashenko's Presidential Administration, Liudmila Hladkaya, an employee for the state-run publisher Belarus Today, and prosecutor Hrakun and defense lawyer Gorbach from the trial to gain better insight of the case. The announcement of the pardon to Krieger was broadcast on the state-run All-National TV (ONT TV), in which Krieger in tears thanked Lukashenko for his decision. The move was praised by the German Ministry for Foreign Affairs and human rights activist Andrei Paluda, and also by Belarusian media for propaganda purposes, stating the pardon showcased Lukashenko's "wise and fair" judgment before an "unjustifiable" crime, and highlighted his "merciful" nature.

On the same day of his pardon, seven political prisoners in Russia were removed without explanation from where they were being held, supporting the speculation about an imminent high-profile prisoner swap. Two days later on 1 August 2024, this proved to be true, as Krieger was released in the 2024 Ankara prisoner exchange, which saw western countries receive 15 prisoners from Russia along with Krieger, being the only prisoner from another country that wasn't in Russia being freed. Krieger specifically was exchanged for Vadim Krasikov as predicted, a decision 'not taken lightly' by the German government, and done in "cooperation with the United States and European partners". Krieger being the only prisoner to be exchanged from Belarus came as disappointment to human rights organizations fighting for the release of any of the nations estimated 1,400 political prisoners at the time. This goal was only partially achieved later in the month on 16 August, when Lukashenko pardoned thirty other prisoners convicted of "protest-related crimes", in a decree published on 4 September.