SEPARATISTS IN UKRAINE SENTENCE FOREIGN FIGHTERS TO DEATH

Thu 09 June 2022:

According to media reports, a court in a separatist-controlled breakaway region of eastern Ukraine has sentenced two British citizens and one Moroccan national to death for being caught while fighting for the Ukrainian army against Russian forces.

The supreme court of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), which is controlled by Russia-backed separatists and is not internationally recognized as independent, handed down its judgement on Thursday, marking the first foreign fighter conviction since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.

The court identified each of the groups as “mercenaries” and said their actions had “led to [the] deaths and wounding of civilians” as well as the destruction of infrastructure in the DPR, which is one of the two breakaway regions in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, alongside the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR).

Russia’s TASS news agency reported that the three men had pleaded guilty to all of the charges levelled against them.

According to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, the three individuals will now face a firing squad. Their lawyer stated that they will file an appeal. They’ll have up to a month to do so, according to reports.

A spokesman for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the United Kingdom’s government was “deeply concerned” by the death sentences and will work to try to secure the release of Pinner and Aslin.

“We’ve said continually that prisoners of war shouldn’t be exploited for political purposes,” the spokesman told reporters.

“Under the Geneva Convention, prisoners of war are entitled to combatant immunity, and they should not be prosecuted for participation in hostilities. So we will continue to work with Ukrainian authorities to try and secure the release of any British national who was serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces and who are being held as prisoners of war.”

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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