The death sentences handed to two British citizens and a Moroccan for fighting on Ukraine’s side have been widely condemned.
A court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic in Ukraine on Thursday (local time) found the three captured fighters guilty of working toward a violent overthrow of power, an offence punishable by death in the unrecognised eastern republic. They were also convicted of mercenary activities and terrorism.
Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti reported that the men, Aiden Aslin, Shaun Pinner, and Ibrahim Saadoun, will face a firing squad. They have a month to appeal.
British Foreign Secretary Luz Truss condemned the sentencing as a "sham judgement with absolutely no legitimacy”. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman Jamie Davies said that under the Geneva Conventions, POWs are entitled to immunity as combatants.
Saadoun's father, Taher Saadoun, told the Moroccan online Arab-language newspaper Madar 21 that his son is not a mercenary and that he holds Ukrainian citizenship.
Aslin’s and Pinner’s families have contended that the two men were long-serving members of the Ukrainian military. Both are said to have lived in Ukraine since 2018.
The three men fought alongside Ukrainian troops. Pinner and Aslin surrendered to pro-Russian forces in the southern port of Mariupol in mid-April, while Saadoun did so in mid-March in the eastern city of Volnovakha.
The Russian military has argued that foreign mercenaries fighting on Ukraine’s side are not combatants and should expect long prison terms, at best, if captured. Another British fighter captured by the pro-Russian forces, Andrew Hill, is awaiting trial.
SHARE ME