The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Britons face 20 years in jail after appearing in pro-Russian court
Two Britons captured by Russian forces face 20 years behind bars, according to a video shared by Russian state media.
Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner were detained in April while fighting in Ukraine, before reportedly appearing in court in the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR).
Twenty-eight-year-old Mr Aslin, who was interviewed after his surrender by Graham Phillips – a former Perth High School pupil and exDundee University student – and 48-year-old Mr Pinner are said to have admitted “training in order to carry out terrorist activities”.
Self-styled independent journalist and Kremlin sympathiser, Phillips, sparked outrage for filming the captive Briton, who was fighting for the Ukrainian military in the east of the country.
In footage shared by Ria
Novosti on social media yesterday a translator can be heard asking Mr Aslin if he would “plead guilty” to an offence, to which he replied: “Yes.”
The charge carries a term of 15 to 20 years’ imprisonment with restriction of freedom for a term of one to two years or life imprisonment, according to Ria Novosti.
The video appeared to show the two Britons in the dock in the proRussian territory’s
supreme court alongside a third man, reported to be Saaudun Brahim, a Moroccan national.
It comes hours after Tory former minister Robert Jenrick said Mr Aslin should be returned home at the earliest opportunity.
The MP condemned the “trumped-up charges” faced by both Britons and accused Russia of a “completely outrageous breach of international law”.