Pro-Russian officials have sentenced to death two Britons and a Moroccan man captured during a fight in the Ukrainian army in Mariupol, Russian state media reported.
A court in Russian-controlled eastern Ukraine has convicted Aidan Aslin and Sean Piner after a one-day trial that observers called a “show trial” on “fabricated charges” aimed at mimicking war crimes trials against Russian troops in Kyiv.
Aslin, 28, of Newark, and Piner, 48, of Watford, were convicted by a Russian-controlled court in Donetsk along with Saudi Brahim on charges of “terrorism.”
Both Britons have said they serve in the Ukrainian Marines, making them active-duty soldiers who need to be protected by the Geneva Conventions for Prisoners of War. However, Russian state media portrayed the men as mercenaries and the court convicted them of being “mercenaries”.
On Wednesday, the state news agency RIA Novosti shared footage of the men pleading guilty to charges against them, which also include terrorism, committing a crime as part of a criminal group and forcibly seizing power or forcibly seizing power.
Russia is also believed to be using the process to put pressure on the United Kingdom and may demand the exchange of prisoners for Russian soldiers convicted of murder and other war crimes during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia has a moratorium on the death penalty, but not in the territory it occupies in eastern Ukraine.
In a statement earlier this week, Aslin’s family said he had served in the Ukrainian Marines for nearly four years and “is not, contrary to Kremlin propaganda, a volunteer, mercenary or spy.”
The family also accused Russia of violating the Geneva Conventions by releasing a video of Aslin, who “spoke under duress and was apparently physically injured.”
His MP Robert Jenrick told BBC Radio 4 that the trial was “a completely scandalous violation of international law and should be condemned”.
“The Russian authorities have chosen to follow the example of these two British citizens, and I think that is a shame. He said he hoped the prisoner exchange would take place “in the near future”.
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