The 38-year-old Jona Neidhart from Zurich served in the Ukrainian War. He confesses to the military justice examiner how he came into conflict with international martial law. The video protocol.
Dec 7, 2025, 5:53 amDec 7, 2025, 5:53 am
Andreas Maurer / ch media
Jona Neidhart sits at a desk in front of the examining judge of the Swiss military justice system. Two cameras film him, from the front and from behind. His T-shirt reads in capital letters: UKRAINE. Below it in Ukrainian: “The world belongs to the brave.” The examining judge sits opposite the accused in a camouflage suit and combat boots.
The military justice system is responsible for prosecuting all Swiss people who have performed foreign military service – regardless of whether the accused are in the Swiss army or not. The 38-year-old Neidhart once did military service with the Grenadiers in Isone, but had to stop due to a foot injury.
Neidhart admits to being a repeat offender. He was deployed to Ukraine twice: from March 2022 to December 2023 and from January to June 2025. He gave the following reasons in the interview. Ukraine was innocently attacked by Russia and asked the international community for help. Neidhart also has family roots in Ukraine on his mother’s side and is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). He felt obliged to help.
Now he is also fighting in Switzerland – for a different neutrality policy. If a country is attacked in violation of international law, Switzerland should not punish its own compatriots who do the morally right thing.
On a political mission: Jona Neidhart in front of the Federal Palace. image: Annette Boutellier
Neidhart made his deployment in Ukraine public himself: He met the war reporter from “Blick” in Ukraine and had him accompany him on the way to the police station in Bern, where he turned himself in.
Jona Neidhart puts the evidence on the table
In September 2025, the military justice system questioned him in detail. The verbal and video transcript is available to CH Media. Neidhart places a camouflage folder on the table for the examining judge and presents the evidence: his contracts with the Ukrainian army and his diaries.
Jona Neidhart’s service record and contract with the Ukrainian army. image: Annette Boutellier
In the four-hour interview, he describes how his deployment in Ukraine allegedly violated military criminal law and how he came into conflict with international war law at the front. It’s about a firefight in May 2025 in the Kharkiv district, about 50 kilometers east of the small town of Izyum. The following excerpt from the minutes is a condensed summary of the most explosive statements.
Jona Neidhart’s frontline deployment in 2025:
Investigating judge: How should I imagine your deployment at the front?
Accused: The Ukrainian War is largely a trench warfare, a bit like the First World War. The simple difference is that the technology has become more modern. People usually sleep and eat in bunkers – or rather, caves in the ground that have been reinforced with logs and sandbags. Outside the bunker there are observation posts where you can observe the enemy side with binoculars, night vision devices or thermal imaging cameras.
Investigating judge: Did you also act offensively during these frontline operations?
Accused: Most maneuvers were defensive. During an attack, however, two Russians came within ten meters of our position. They threw hand grenades and fired assault rifles in our direction. Two of my comrades, a Ukrainian and an Australian, counterattacked. They went out of the bunker and threw hand grenades around the corner. One Russian died, the other fled injured into the forest. We were given the task of hunting him down. We first found his helmet, breastplate and rifle; later he himself under a bush with bloodstained pants. We didn’t know if he was dead or not. My comrade, the Australian, emptied his magazine with 30 shots. After the first hits, the Russian jumped up, twitching, and remained lying there. Then I shot him in the head to make sure he was dead. That was the only shot I fired at a visible Russian during my time in the Ukraine.
Investigating judge: Who made the decision for this shot?
Accused: My supervisor told us to make sure he was dead. I then spontaneously decided to take this headshot. It happened again and again that Russians played dead only to throw a grenade at the last moment.
Investigating judge: What was going through your mind at that moment?
Accused: I felt sorry for the Russian. As we searched him, I saw his wedding ring. He was between 30 and 40 years old and probably had children. It hurt me that there was now a Russian widow and possibly orphans. At that moment I saw how this genocide by Russia affects not only Ukraine, but also the Russian people.
Hearing from Jona Neidhart
Exclusive: Excerpts from the video transcript of the interview.Video: ch media/zvg/ edited by CH Media
Investigating judge: Mr. Neidhart, do you know the rules of international law of war, i.e. the Geneva Convention?
Accused: Yes, we had training on this. In this war it is very difficult to implement the Geneva Convention one-to-one. Not because the Ukrainians don’t want this, but above all because the Russians don’t stick to anything. It’s like playing football against a team that doesn’t play by any rules, and you still try to play by the rules. Then the team that doesn’t follow any rules will have an advantage.
Investigating judge: This soldier was obviously wounded or injured and had removed his protective armor. You are not allowed to attack enemies who are out of action – even if you receive the order to do so. How do you comment on this?
Accused: Theory and practice are two different things. Much of what we discuss in our theory books and classrooms cannot be implemented in this war. Personally, I don’t have a bad conscience.
Investigating judge: There is a suspicion that you have violated international law of war. This applies all over the world, regardless of whether the other side adheres to it. I will submit this matter to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office. It then decides whether there is sufficient suspicion to open proceedings. Do you have any questions or comments about this?
Accused: No, I don’t have a problem with that. I am authentic and honest. I report the way I experienced things. I have no evidence of this. I only have my words.
Neidhart describes a second incident that is sensitive from the perspective of international war law. In June 2023, he and five international soldiers were supposed to take four Russian prisoners away from the front. According to the Geneva Convention, they were allowed to keep their protective equipment. But in the past, Russian prisoners had used helmets and breastplates to attack their captors. So Neidhart and his colleagues took away their equipment.
One of the four prisoners was seriously injured. According to the rules, the international soldiers would have had to carry the injured man, but with only six men they could not have guarded the other prisoners. So the Russians had to carry their injured colleague.
Jona Neidhart in Ukraine in 2022.image: Ryan Collins
On the way, the Russian army fired mortar shells at them. One prisoner died and two were slightly injured. Neidhart and his colleagues left the seriously injured man behind and brought the slightly injured and themselves to safety.
“According to the Geneva Convention, it wasn’t clean,” says Neidhart. “But in this situation our survival had priority.” He saw around 60 Russian prisoners. They were treated correctly and kindly.
The interview took place in September 2025. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office has not yet dealt with the case, as the law enforcement agency stated upon request. If she does not take over the procedure, the military justice system will continue it.
The long search for meaning of a highly gifted person
Jona Neidhart found his calling with the fight in Ukraine and the legal fight in Switzerland. He is very talented, but until recently he was unable to develop his talent. He had problems at school because he was different. He never really found connection.
Jona Neidhart’s diary: He keeps it in English.image: Annette Boutellier
After graduating from high school, he spent three years abroad as a missionary and teacher for his religious community. He later studied literature at the University of Bern. But after completing his bachelor’s degree, he was “fed up” with university and wanted to become a police officer. He failed the assessment – he was considered not assertive enough. He eventually began a master’s degree with the aim of becoming a secondary teacher.
Then war broke out in Ukraine. This led to a paradoxical constellation: In Switzerland he failed the police exam – in Ukraine he found a place as a soldier.
The 38-year-old is a man who struggles in rigid systems and finds his strength in extreme situations. It was only a year ago that he realized how he had to deal with his giftedness and how he could use his unusual way of thinking.
Jona Neidhart hopes that the proceedings will be stopped. But he is also prepared to go to prison in Switzerland – on his mission as an activist.