A former German Bundeswehr soldier, Ben R., has been arrested in Ukraine, the Bavarian General State Prosecutor’s Office confirmed to the German magazine Spiegel. According to the Spiegel, R. was apprehended in the Sumy region in northeastern Ukraine and is now expected to be extradited to Germany.
The General State Prosecutor’s Office in Bamberg accuses R. of committing multiple sexual assaults and other sex-related crimes. It is also alleged that R. committed sexual offenses in Ukraine, uploaded videos of these crimes to the internet and possessed and disseminated child pornography. R. has not commented on the allegations so far.
As reported by the Wehrbeauftragte, Eva Högl, the Wehrdisziplinaranwaltschaft had been investigating R. since October 2021. In March 2022, a uniform and duty ban was imposed on R. and he was subsequently discharged from the Bundeswehr a year later.
According to a previous Spiegel report, R. had previously drawn attention to himself. He was also active as a volunteer flood relief worker in the Ahrtal, where one of the female volunteers later reported to the local police that R. had sexually harassed her. Several criminal complaints were filed, but later withdrawn.
In March 2022, a search warrant was executed at R.’s apartment in Oberfranken, following a suspicion of possessing child pornography. Shortly after, he disappeared in Ukraine, claiming he was seeking medical help and later working as a mercenary. He regularly posted about his activities on social media and the Bild newspaper even featured him as a “German hero” in Ukraine. In an interview with Bild reporter Paul Ronzheimer, R. also spoke about finding his “big love in Ukraine” on Tinder.
For more than two years, R. managed to evade German law enforcement by presenting himself as a fighter in Ukraine. However, Ukrainian authorities are now investigating him on suspicion of the sexual assault of a minor.