Captured British fighters sentenced to death
UK attacks verdict against Ukrainian army pair by pro-russian separatists’ court
TWO British men fighting for the Ukrainian army were yesterday sentenced to death by pro-russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.
Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, condemned the “sham judgment” handed down in separatist-held Donetsk after a three-day show trial held behind closed doors.
Aiden Aslin, 28, and Shaun Pinner, 48, were captured in the besieged city of Mariupol in April. Both had spent several years serving in the Ukrainian army.
Ibrahim Sadun, a Moroccan student captured in March in Volnovakha, Donetsk, was also convicted of attempting “a violent seizure of power” by the “Supreme Court” of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.
The men now face execution by firing squad after pleading guilty to mercenary and terrorist activities. They were not allowed to present any evidence or defend themselves.
Britain said that they should be treated as prisoners of war and be entitled to combatant immunity under the Geneva Convention.
Downing Street said the Government was “deeply concerned” while Thérèse Coffey, the Work and Pensions Secretary, said representations were being made to Moscow for their release.
A spokesman for Boris Johnson said the Government would “work with the Ukrainian authorities to try to secure the release of any British nationals who were serving in the Ukrainian armed forces”.
Showing no emotion behind the bars of their courtroom cage, the trio, in civilian clothes, took turns standing up to signal they understood the sentence. While there is a moratorium on the death penalty in Russia, it does not apply in the areas of eastern Ukraine controlled by the separatists.
Judge Alexander Nikulin said he was guided by “the most important, unshakable principle of justice”. “It was that which made it possible to take this complex and difficult decision to apply an exceptional measure of punishment in the form of the death penalty,” he said.
The men were told they had a month to appeal, which could commute the sentences to life or 25 years in prison.
News of the sentence was greeted with fury in London. Ms Truss said: “They are prisoners of war. This is a sham judgment with absolutely no legitimacy.”
Tom Tugendhat, the Conservative chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee, said: “It’s not a state, it’s not a court and the judges are merely people dressing up and pretending.
“These men are prisoners of war [and] the charges against them are a violation of their rights. Russia is using them as hostages.”
The two British men were branded “mercenaries” by the Moscow-controlled court, despite serving in Ukraine’s army and having lived in the country for years.
Mr Aslin, from Newark, Notts, was a member of the Ukrainian armed forces before Russia’s invasion and recently signed up for a fourth year of service.
Pressure is likely to grow to secure the men’s release through a prisoner exchange with Ukraine. In the run-up to the trial, Mr Aslin was paraded on Russian state television pleading with Mr Johnson to secure the release of Viktor Medvedchuk, a pro-russian politician facing charges of treason in
‘These men are prisoners of war and the charges against them are a violation of their rights’
Ukraine. Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, is godfather to Mr Medvedchuk’s daughter.
Moscow has more than 5,600 Ukrainian troops in captivity, while the number of Russian soldiers held by Ukraine has dropped to 550 from 900 after a series of exchanges, according to a leaked intelligence report.
Britain does not recognise the Donetsk People’s Republic and has not publicly engaged with local officials over the case.
“Russia should be clear, they cannot treat British citizens like this and get away with it,” said Robert Jenrick, the MP who represents the Newark constituency where Mr Aslin lived. He called on the Foreign Office to summon Russia’s ambassador.
Fighting continued in the Donbas region as Mykhailo Podolyak, a top adviser to Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, said up to 200 soldiers were being killed there every day. Mr Podolyak called on the West to dramatically increase the number and quality of weapons it was sending to Ukraine.
The number of desertions from the Ukrainian army is growing every week, according to a leaked intelligence report by Western and Ukrainian officials. However, Russia’s offensive in eastern Ukraine remains “deeply troubled” despite recent tactical gains.
Western officials believe most of the city of Severodonetsk is in Russian hands and will eventually fall. But they said the Russians faced major obstacles if they were to achieve their objective of securing the Donbas region.
Their efforts are hampered by shortages of long-range precision missiles.
Aiden Aslin joined Ukraine’s military as a marine in 2018.
Now, the 28-year-old from Newark, Notts, has been accused of being a mercenary and sentenced to death by firing squad.
When Mr Aslin, who goes by his call name Johnny, was initially captured in Mariupol in April, his mother Ang Wood said she was “in bits”.
At the time, she called on Vladimir Putin to uphold the Geneva Convention, saying: “Aiden is a serving member of the Ukrainian armed forces and as such is a prisoner of war and must be treated with humanity.”
On April 12, Mr Aslin posted on his Twitter account that his unit had “no food or ammunition” left and was forced to surrender. “It’s been 48 days, we tried our best to defend Mariupol but we have no choice but to surrender to Russian forces,” the tweet said. “It’s been a pleasure everyone – I hope this war ends soon.”
In a video recorded before the invasion of Ukraine in February, he said he joined because he would not
“sit here and complain about everything, but go do something about it”, adding that war with Russia would mean “a lot of us will die, get seriously injured”.
When Mr Aslin was 21, he went to Syria to fight with the Kurdish armed forces against Isis from 2015 to 2016.
There, he met a Ukrainian volunteer who had previously fought against Russia in the Donbas, who persuaded him to sign up to Kyiv’s cause.
In a message sent in March, Mr Aslin pleaded for the “madness” to end. “We didn’t want this war,” he said. “They forced it on us, and now we have injured and dead laying in nearly every major city. Our spirits are high…
I’m not sure what the outcome will be, but Ukrainians remain strong.”
When Mr Aslin was last seen on Russian state TV his face bore bruises and cuts. Shaun Pinner, a 48-year-old army veteran, was also filmed in April saying he had been captured while defending Mariupol, his adopted city.
His family said at the time he was “not a volunteer nor a mercenary, but officially serving with the Ukrainian army”.
Previously, Mr Pinner had spoken about how he was on his fourth tour of duty in Ukraine, after serving in the British Army for nine years in the Royal Anglian Regiment.
While working in waste management in the UK, he decided to move to Ukraine, where he has lived since 2018.
Six months after joining the military, he was promoted to section commander of his unit in the marines.
He learnt some Russian and married a Ukrainian woman.
After the military, he planned to retire and live in Ukraine, with a view to moving into humanitarian work.