MONTEGO BAY, St James — Russian man who claimed that he fled his country for fear for his life because he refused to engage in the war with Ukraine was hauled before the St James Parish Court on Wednesday for having a fraudulent Jamaican immigration stamp in his passport.

The man, Fedor Gorbunov, 33, of Omsk City in Russia, pleaded not guilty to uttering a forged document.

According to court documents, on February 25 about 1:30 pm, the investigating officer was on duty at the Investigation Unit at Sangster International Airport when he received some information from an immigration supervisor.

Based on the information, the officer went to the Immigration Arrival Hall, where he was asked to conduct a secondary interview with a male passenger who had arrived on a Copa airlines flight from Panama City. The supervisor handed the investigating officer a Russian passport and a completed Immigration /Custom C5 Card in the name Fedor Gorbunov before pointing out a male seated in the waiting area.

The officer approached the man, who introduced himself as Fedor Gorbunov. The officer then examined the passport and discovered that an Immigration Work Permit endorsement impression to accept employment had modified his status to stay in the island until April 9, 2025 and that there were other inconsistencies.

The officer informed the accused of his findings, cautioned him and showed him the passport endorsement.

When asked whether he was married to a Jamaican and where she was located, he reportedly said, “Yes, my wife is in Russia with my mother from before the war.”

The officer then informed him that in order for him to be issued a work permit exemption endorsement in his passport, he and his wife must both appear in person at the Passport, Immigration & Citizenship Agency (PICA) office.

The accused man then reportedly said, “Officer, I am not married. I did not get the stamps myself from immigration.”

Gorbunov is also alleged to have told the officer that he paid a man in Kingston US$5,000 and gave him his passport in order for him to get a stamp allowing him to remain in Jamaica for an extended period. The man, he said, later returned with his passport and told him that he could stay in Jamaica until 2025.

When cautioned, Gorbunov reportedly said, “Officer, please send me back to Colombia because if I go back to Russia, I am going to be killed because I refused to fight in the war.”

He was subsequently placed in custody at the Barnett Street police lock-up, after which he was taken to court.

After hearing the allegations, presiding parish judge Sasha-Marie Smith-Ashley asked the accused man if he was guilty of the charge levelled against him.

“Mr Gorbunov, are you guilty for having a fraudulent stamp placed in your passport?” the judge asked.

“To the best of my knowledge, the stamp was authentic…I was told so by the person who was helping me with this,” the accused man replied.

When the judge asked if he had gone through the immigration process, he responded, “No”, and admitted that he had paid someone to have the stamp placed in the document.

Gorbunov, who wept openly in court, told the court that he cannot return to Russia because he was fearful of his life. According to him, he had planned to work in Jamaica for an American company, but the arrangements had not yet been finalised.

“I wasn’t supposed to be here this early, but I was forced to come because of the war,” he said.

He admitted to committing an offence, but emphasised that he was told the stamp was authentic and trusted the individual who assisted him.

He also expressed gratitude to the investigating officer who was present in court, claiming that he was the one who pointed out the difference in the stamps.

At that point, Judge Smith-Ashley asked attorney-at-law Chumu Paris if he was willing to take an assignment to represent the accused and Paris accepted.

The matter was subsequently deferred to March 3 to allow Paris to take further instructions from the defendant.

Gorbunov was remanded.