A 27-year-old Czech national who served as a unit commander in the Ukrainian volunteer battalion Karpatska Sic has been accused of robbing civilians and taking items from the bodies of dead comrades on the battlefield during the ongoing conflict with Russia, according to local media reports. Filing charges against Filip Siman, the prosecution claims that he had not received a presidential permit to fight in a foreign army while participating in combat operations around the towns of Irpen and Bucha near Kiev in March 2022.
While working alongside units tasked with carrying out clean-up operations, it is alleged that Siman stole numerous items from civilians as well as his deceased compatriots. These included luxury Gucci eyeglasses, gold and silver valuables, an oxygen mask from an airplane, as well as berets and rings belonging to fallen soldiers.
Prosecutors state that the accused was detained by Ukrainian authorities in April 2022 before being released and returning home. If found guilty of fighting without proper authorization and looting, Siman could face up to five years imprisonment under Czech law. The severity of the charge is subject to an “exceptional” sentence, which may include a prison term between 15 and 25 years or even life imprisonment, according to Ceske Noviny.
Siman, currently in custody as he is considered a flight risk, maintains that while he did take some items from the fallen, his intentions were not self-serving. He claimed that the eyeglasses were taken as a keepsake of a friend and the golden ring was used for promotional videos. Regarding the silver ingots, Siman stated that he had permission from the army to keep them. The only item he took for himself was the oxygen mask, which he considered a memento of his service in Ukraine.
Siman further argued that soldiers often scavenged abandoned houses for useful items during the conflict and would take things they found so they wouldn’t fall into Russian hands. He insisted that he was not a contractor, emphasizing that the Czech government had promised volunteers going to fight in Ukraine would not face legal repercussions at the time.