Three foreign fighters sentenced to death in Donetsk – VG

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This reports the Russian state-owned news agency Ria news.

The three men, who were arrested in Mariupol in April, are said to have confessed to having taken part in an attempt to take over Donetsk by force, according to the RIA. The news agency also published a video of this alleged confession on June 7.

Neither the breakaway republic nor the court has been recognized internationally. Donetsk is initially part of Ukraine, but has been controlled by Russian-backed separatists since 2014.

A spokesman for the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, described the verdict as “deeply worrying”, according to Reuters.

The Foreign Minister responds

The British Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, strongly opposes the death sentence in a Twitter message.

– I completely condemn the sentencing of Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner held by Russian agents in eastern Ukraine. They are prisoners of war. This is a false verdict with absolutely no legitimacy. My thoughts go to the families. We continue to do everything we can to support them, writes Truss.

– My thoughts go to their families. We continue to do everything we can to support them, the Foreign Minister writes further.

The newspaper The Guardian writes that Russia is probably trying to use the trial as a pressure to get a prisoner exchange with Britain.

Britain, for its part, is clear that the men sentenced to death must be treated as prisoners of war.

The Russian state news agency Ria Novosti writes that the verdict against the three is the first verdict against foreign fighters in Donetsk, and that they will probably be shot according to the laws of the self-proclaimed republic.

Wants to appeal the verdict

The two Brits has previously stated that they served together with regular military units in Mariupol and that they should thus have protection as prisoners of war, in line with the Geneva Convention.

The court in Donetsk, for its part, believes that the prisoners of war were “mercenaries”, and that they could thus be sentenced to the most severe punishment in the breakaway republic. The news agency RIA writes that the men will probably be shot.

BBC quotes the prisoners of war lawyer that everyone wants to appeal the verdict. The three men have been given an appeal deadline of one month, according to RIA.

Established in Ukraine

BBC has previously followed one of the British men, Aiden Aslin (28) from Newark in Nottinghamshire. He is said to have moved to Mykolajiv in Ukraine in 2018, according to the family. There he joined the military forces the same year and it is stated that he was to marry a Ukrainian woman and have settled in the country.

The former health worker has fought with Kurdish forces in Syria against IS.

The other Briton, Shaun Pinner (48), is originally from Bedfordshire. He is said to have been a “respected” soldier in the British Army before moving to Ukraine four years ago four years ago to use his experience in the military forces there.

Shaun liked the Ukrainian lifestyle and considered Ukraine as his adopted homeland for the past four years. During this time he met his Ukrainian wife who is very concerned about the need for humanitarian aid, the BBC quotes his family.

Pinner had a three-year contract that expires at the end of the year. According to the family, his plan was to then continue with humanitarian work.

Accused of attempting to seize power

Separatist leader Denis Pushilin said Monday that the crimes committed by the three were monstrous. The three are accused of trying to take over the region by force.

Aslin’s family has stated that they are cooperating with the British and Ukrainian authorities in an attempt to get the 28-year-old home. The British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has said that the British will give the two soldiers support.

“I do not know all the details, but we clearly expect the laws of war to be respected,” Raab told LBC on Monday.

See «VG Explains: These are the rules of war»

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