Russian proxy fighters in eastern Ukraine have said they are launching a trial against two Britons, Aidan Aslin and Sean Piner, who were caught fighting alongside Ukrainian troops in Mariupol.
The two men serving in the Ukrainian army and Ibrahim Saadun, a prisoner from Morocco, were shown sitting in a cage in the courtroom reserved for defendants in a video posted on pro-Russian social media channels on Tuesday.
Prosecutors from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, a Russian-controlled proxy government in eastern Ukraine, say the men face the death penalty for “terrorism” and fighting as “mercenaries” against the Russian invasion.
Aslin and his fellow defendants said they were regular soldiers fighting in the Ukrainian army and should be treated as prisoners of war.
If the courtroom photos are confirmed, the men will be the first Ukrainian soldiers to be tried by pro-Russian forces in what observers say is a series of demonstrations designed to justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
– Do you know the information in your indictment? an interpreter asked 28-year-old Aslin from Newark, Nottinghamshire. “Exactly,” he replied, “a military response means ‘affirmative.’ Sean Piner, 48, of Watford and Bedfordshire, also said he understood the allegations against him.
Russian officials have threatened to hold military tribunals, dubbed Nuremberg 2.0, to cover war crimes trials in Kyiv for atrocities committed by invading Russian troops. Observers say the trials may have been deliberately organized to put maximum pressure on the West and exchange prisoners for Russian soldiers captured and tried in Ukraine.
In a statement, Aslin’s family demanded confidentiality from the media. “This is a very sensitive and emotional moment for our family and we would like to thank everyone who supported us,” they said.
“We are currently working with the Ukrainian government and the foreign ministry to try to bring Aidan home. Aiden is a very loved one and he is very much missed and we hope that he will be released very soon.
Ukraine has sentenced three Russian soldiers to prison for war crimes related to Russia’s February 24 offensive. Vadim Shishimarin, 21, was sentenced to life in prison for killing a 62-year-old civilian in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region at the start of the war. Both soldiers, Alexander Bobikin and Alexander Ivanov, were sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for shelling settlements that “violated the laws and customs of war.”
Prosecutors said Aslin and his co-defendants were charged with four separate crimes: committing a crime as part of a criminal group; forcible seizure of power or forcible retention of power; to be a mercenary; and promoting training in terrorist activities.
But the two men served in the Ukrainian Marines while participating in the defense of Mariupol’s Azovstal steel mine. Aslin, who previously volunteered with Kurdish militias against Islamic State militants, maintained a popular Twitter account and was filmed as an oath in the Ukrainian armed forces.
However, both men have been paraded in front of television cameras since surrendering with hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers in May after months of desperate defense of Ukrainian steelmaking.
Andrew Hill, a 35-year-old father of four from Plymouth, was also captured during fighting in southern Ukraine.
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