Norwegian Erik Helgesplass spoke with Shaun Pinner (48) just weeks before he was captured by pro-Russian separatist forces in Mariupol in April. He is one of two British nationals being held in custody by the so-called People’s Republic of Donetsk (DNR). Also a Moroccan is captured.
The British have previously approached the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the hope of getting a prisoner exchange, but the latest news is that DNR now threatens the death penalty.
– It is clear that I have followed the case. This is a sad development, and I hoped for a long time that Shaun and the men would get away, Helgesplass tells Dagbladet.
– But now it did not happen. Russia has violated the Geneva Convention and any rule on how to act in war. The fact that the death penalty for prisoners is now threatened is nothing short of expected.
There is no death penalty in Russia, but in the judicial system the separatists in eastern Ukraine have formed, people can be sentenced to death.
Asks Boris Johnson for help
Met in 2020
Helgesplass says that Pinner was by no means a foreign warrior, as has been reported in several media previously. He lived in the country and was a regular enlisted soldier in the Ukrainian defense.
The two met for the first time in 2020, when the Norwegian carried first aid equipment, food and equipment to soldiers who resisted separatists on the outskirts of Mariupol.
– I was asked and was allowed to come within the red zone, ie the combat zone, to assist with equipment for the soldiers who stayed there. That was when I met Shaun and the squad he was part of, says Helgesplass.
He himself has a family and a house in the capital Kyiv and has commuted to and from Ukraine in recent years.
SUPPLIES: Helserplass met Pinner when he drove down with first aid equipment and food for soldiers who have withstood pro-Russian separatists. Photo: Private
sea view
– I would describe Shaun as a very easy-going guy. He was upbeat and reflective, simply whole – honest and straightforward. The same was true of the others I met down there. Despite being at the forefront, they kept the mood up. It was grabbing guys, to say the least.
Traveling back Thursday
– What do you think about the fact that precisely such men are then captured and threatened with the death penalty?
– If such men had not put in the effort they have made since 2014, the situation would have looked completely different today – so that they are captured and threatened with the death penalty, is just sad and unfair, Helgesplass answers.
SHOWN ON RUSSIAN TV: In a video on Russian TV in April, British prisoners Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner asked Prime Minister Boris Johnson to be exchanged for the Ukrainian oligarch and opposition politician Viktor Medvedchuk, who is friends with Putin. It is unclear whether they spoke of their own free will. Photo: RUSSIAN STATE TV CHANNEL ROSSYIA 1 via REUTERS TV
sea view
Since the 46-year-old actually lives in Kyiv as usual, he is also considered a refugee now. He says that he and his family woke up to a bang early in the morning when the Russians first entered Ukraine on February 24.
– We chose not to leave the country immediately, but set the course for Norway just before Easter, he says to Dagbladet.
Helgesplass has in no way reduced aid to the country for that reason. Since the outbreak of the war, he has helped transport other refugees out of Ukraine. He and his family have also made the house in the town of Bila Tserkva southwest of Kyiv available to those who need accommodation.
– Now that the situation has changed a bit, many also want to return to the country – and then we step in again. We are a small and dynamic organization who throws us around and assists where needed, whether it is transporting refugees or transporting food and equipment, he says.
Next Thursday he will return to the war-torn country.
– Then we are going far into a city that has received a lot of beatings lately. There they lack almost everything, so then we make ourselves available.
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