This condemnation will likely cause some controversy at the diplomatic level. The Russian press agencies announced that two Britons and a Moroccan, who were held in Ukraine while fighting for Kyiv, were sentenced on Thursday, June 9, to death for mercenary.
British citizens Aiden Aslin, Shaun Pinner and Shaun Pinner. Brahim Saadoun, Moroccan.
Aiden Aslin's family told us at the end April that Aiden Aslin had relocated to Ukraine in 2018. There he met his partner and settled down in Mykolaiv (southeast). He had joined the Ukrainian Marines, and served nearly four years in that unit. Contrary to Kremlin propaganda he is not a volunteer, spy, mercenary, or a mercenary. His family says that Aiden had planned for his future outside of the army. However, Putin's barbaric invasion turned Aiden's life upside down."
Shaun Pinner's family explained to him that he was not a volunteer or a mercenary but that he officially served in the Ukrainian Army in accordance with Ukrainian law. He also married a Ukrainian woman in Ukraine in 2018.
According to Brahim Saadoun, he was a student in Ukraine during the Russian offensive. His father told Madar21 that Thursday that his son "isn't a mercenary". He accused Ukrainian authorities in April of "recruiting foreigners to exploit them for war."
"The Supreme Court of the Donetsk People's Republic sentenced Britons Aiden Aslin, Shaun Pinner, and Moroccan Brahim Saadoun death. They were accused of participating in the fighting of mercenaries," Russian state media TASS reported.
Pavel Kossovan (the lawyer for one of three men) told TASS that the defendants would "appeal". According to the news agency, the court explained to the convicts that they could also request a pardon.
According to TASS Shaun Pinner, and Brahim Saadoun pleaded not guilty to the charges "mercenarism", but admitted to participating in fights "aimed to the violent seizing of power".
The "alleged trial of soldiers of the Ukrainian armed force is futile" was reacted by Oleg Nikolenko, a spokesperson for Ukrainian diplomacy. He denounced a trial that "placed the interests of propaganda above the law and morals".
Recent weeks have seen pro-Russian officials hint at the possibility that captured Ukrainian soldiers, which includes those from the Azov nationalist regiment, might face trial and death penalty.
The International Legion for the Defense of Ukraine, or Lidu, condemned Wednesday's trial of Andrew Hill, a member of its group that was captured by the separatists. This organization, which brings together foreign volunteers fighting for Ukraine, says Andrew Hill is a "legionnaire with a contract with Ukraine's army" and not a “mercenary".
Lidu, an official body for foreign volunteer fighters, reported that four foreign soldiers, one of them a Frenchman were killed in fighting the Russian invasion.
