Pows forced to listen to Abba, Cher
One of the British prisoners who was captured while fighting in Ukraine has said he was forced by the Russians to listen to Abba and Cher on repeat.
Shaun Pinner, 48, an Army veteran, said he was made to listen to the music 24 hours a day, was subjected to electrocutions and was stabbed.
He was given only stale bread and dirty water to consume.
After he was sentenced to death in June, with fellow British fighter Aiden Aslin, they were moved to new accommodation where the music torture continued.
“The conditions were better but they still played music — and this time it was Believe by Cher,” he told The Sun on Sunday. “We had our dark days and I cried a lot. We had to cling on to some kind of hope and that's how I survived.”
Pinner was part of a group of 10 foreign detainees freed after Saudi Arabia brokered a deal between Russia and Ukraine. Now back home, he said: “I thought I was going to die. It was hell on earth. The past six months have been the worst days of my life. I never want to listen to an Abba song again or see a loaf of bread.”
Aslin, 28, spoke of how he was beaten, stabbed and forced to listen to Soviet songs 24 hours a day. “I never thought I'd get out alive,” he said.
He joined Ukraine's Marines in 2018. After his capture, he was taken to the self-proclaimed Donetsk
IT WAS HELL ... I NEVER WANT TO LISTEN TO AN ABBA SONG AGAIN OR SEE A LOAF OF BREAD.
People's Republic, where he was beaten during an interrogation prior to the Russian-backed forces announcing his capture to the world.
He said: “The officer was smoking a cigarette and knelt down in front of me to ask, `Do you know who I am?' I said `No,' and he replied in Russian, `I am your death.'
“He said, `Did you see what I did to you?' He pointed to my back. He showed me his knife and I realized he'd stabbed me.”