British ex-soldier James Scott Rhys Anderson. Photo: United Press Service of the Kursk Region Judiciary.
A Russian military court has sentenced British citizen James Scott Rhys Anderson to 19 years in prison after he was captured in the Kursk Region, according to a report by the independent Russian publication-in-exile Mediazona.
The 2nd Western District Military Court delivered the verdict during an off-site session in Kursk, convicting Anderson of terrorism and mercenarism. The trial was held behind closed doors, and details of the charges were not disclosed. However, based on the charges presented, the “terrorist act” in question did not result in any casualties, but allegedly caused “significant property damage or other serious consequences.”
The 22-year-old Brit was sentenced to five years in a high-security prison, followed by 14 years in a strict-regime penal colony.
A court press release claimed that Anderson pleaded guilty to the charges. A Ukrainian soldier who served in the same unit as Anderson was questioned as a witness.
Anderson’s capture by Russian forces was first reported by the state-run news agency TASS on Nov. 25, 2024. The Russian state agency released a video of Anderson, in which he said that his passport and phone had been taken away and that he had not intended to travel to the Kursk Region.
His father, Scott Anderson, identified him in the video. In an interview with the Daily Mail, the elder Anderson revealed that his son had traveled to Ukraine to fight against invading Russian forces eight months earlier — despite repeated pleas from family members to stay away.
“He wanted to go out there because he thought he was doing what was right. He was dead against what was happening to the Ukrainian people,” Scott Anderson told the tabloid.
In early February, the 2nd Western District Military Court registered its first 10 cases of mercenary activity, according to Mediazona. Most foreign defendants are set to be tried in absentia.
The first in-absentia verdict for a foreign fighter in the Kursk Region was issued in December 2024, when New Zealander Jordan O’Brien was sentenced to 14 years in a strict-regime penal colony for allegedly illegally entering Russia in August.
James Scott Rhys Anderson is likely the first foreign fighter to receive an in-person conviction for participating in Ukraine’s ongoing operation in Kursk.