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Rafael Lusvarghi, 37, from Brazil, had long been interested in Russia, so he decided to go and fight against what were known as “fascists” in eastern Ukraine. But fortunately he has already given up and become a monk.
After joining pro-Russian forces he ended up living in a monastery, following accusations of international terrorism, writes the British Daily Mail.
The Russian-speaking republic of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine describes its struggle as an “attempt against fascism”, in an ideological description to attract as many sympathizers as possible to fight them.
Among them in September 2014 was Rafael Lusvarghi, who spoke good Russian and became a symbol of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
The 37-year-old from Sao Paulo, remained for some time imprisoned in the Svyato-Pokrovskyy monastery in Kiev without arrest and terrorism charges.
The father of two, originally from Hungary, fought with the French Foreign Legion for three years before working for the military police in Brazil.
He had previously joined the left-wing anti-American FARC rebels in Colombia but said the group “had no organization and no ambition”.
Rafael describes himself as a “fighter”, a “Stalinist” and a “leftist”, as he gave several interviews to separatist media in Donetsk, where he explained that he had come there to fight “fascism”.
Following his arrest, a court in Kiev sentenced him to 13 years in prison for terrorism, as the locals called the attempts to establish independent republics in Donetsk and Lugansk.
But in 2017 his lawyer, Daniel Eduardo Candido, reversed the decision saying his client had been tortured for giving false confessions in prison and Rafael was released in 2017, after a year and a half in prison.
But without a passport he could not leave the country and finally in May 2018 he was found in the Holosiiviskyy monastery near Kiev.
He became interested in the Orthodox faith and began praying without being able to return to Brazil or the eastern republics.
Lusvarghi was finally released as part of a prisoner exchange between Ukraine and the eastern republics in December 2019.
Rafael later returned to Brazil, where he was arrested for possession of weapons and ammunition, and sentenced to several years in prison.
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