At the end of August U.S. supported rebels detained 19 Ukrainian cooks and oil workers, on unsupported claims that they are mercenaries for Muammar Muhammad al-Gaddafi.

“How can we be snipers? They are old. She is a woman. We are not snipers. As you know, life in the Ukraine is bad. We came here to earn money for our family. They [rebels] took everything from us. Money, passports, computers, everything.”-Maksim Shadrov, cook

The rebels even admitted they found no weapons on the Ukrainians.  The Associated Press is reporting the most of Gaddafi’s mercenaries have fled the country.

Around August 30, Russian journalists found five Serbs, who’d been taken prisoner by Libyan rebels.

The five Serbs say they are construction workers who came to Libya on August 12, to repair roads for a Serbian-Libyan firm, Zazura.  When the fighting reached Tripoli, U.S. supported rebels stopped them, saw their passports and accused them of “aiding Gaddafi”.

The Serbs have now been confirmed as construction workers, and the Serbian Embassy is in touch with them.

Several Russian oil engineers have also been held, and beaten, by U.S. supported rebels: “For some reason they think that Slavic people are snipers. We have nothing to do with that. We came here to earn money peacefully.”-Vladimir Dolgov, engineer

Russian media says Russia is working to get its citizens out of rebel detention, but there are several dozen Russian and Ukrainian citizens still under rebel control.