Photo Courtesy: nenow
Aizawl: The National Investigation Agency dropped anti-terror charges against an American military trainer and six Ukrainian nationals. Matthew VanDyke and his co-accused walked out of Tihar Jail in New Delhi on Monday. They had been in custody since March. The agency removed Unlawful Activities Prevention Act provisions from the final chargesheet. Prosecutors shifted their focus to visa and immigration violations. A Delhi court granted default bail and gave VanDyke travel clearance until late February 2027.
The group faced accusations of smuggling drone technology and communication jammers through Mizoram and Manipur during regional ethnic violence. Investigators claimed the men crossed into Myanmar to train the Chin National Front and the Kachin Independence Army. VanDyke rejects these claims. He says his incarceration was a geopolitical maneuver tied to Russian interests in the Ukraine war. "He also claimed that external interference was involved in the arrests of him and the Ukrainian nationals, and said he would disclose more details about how the operation was carried out."
Conditions in prison proved brutal for the filmmaker. Defense lawyers told the court that VanDyke suffered from major weight loss and gastrointestinal issues caused by the jail food. Their request to allow private cooking inside the facility was denied. VanDyke is now back in the United States.
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