NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP)—A key figure in a network that sent more than 1,000 Kenyans to fight for the Russian army was charged on Thursday with human trafficking, the state prosecutor said.

Festus Omwamba, 33, the founder of recruitment agency Global Face Human Resources, allegedly used to funnel Kenyans to Russia, was presented in court following his arrest in Moyale, a border town with Ethiopia.

In a post on X, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) said Omwamba is accused “to have recruited twenty-two Kenyan youths to Russia for exploitation by means of deception.”

According to the state prosecutor, 22 “victims of human trafficking were rescued” in a police operation last September, while three others who found themselves on the front line of the Russia-Ukraine war returned home with injuries.

More than 1,000 Kenyans have joined the Russian army in recent months, Kenyan MP Kimani Ichung’wah told parliament last week, citing a joint report from the intelligence services and DCI.

Several media outlets, including AFP, have reported on the forced conscription of Kenyans.

Many had no military experience and were promised lucrative civilian jobs in Russia, only to be forced to sign contracts with the army and sent to the frontlines in Ukraine with limited training, where many have died.

Omwamba pleaded not guilty to the charges, while his lawyer, Bonaventure Otieno, dismissed the case as being built on “speculations” and “hearsay.”

“There’s no case,” Otieno said.

AFP recently spoke with four Kenyans — three wounded — who made it home. One thought he was going for a job as a salesman, two thought they would be security guards, and the fourth was a high-level athlete.

All were recruited through Global Face Human Resources and had denounced Omwamba’s role in the deception, along with one of his employees, Edward Gituku, who is currently being prosecuted for human trafficking.

The Russian embassy in Kenya denied the accusations last week, calling them a “dangerous and misleading propaganda campaign”.