Two Britons captured by Russian forces ‘are sentenced to death’ for fighting in Ukraine 

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Two British men captured by pro-Russian rebel forces in Ukraine have been sentenced to death and are set to face a firing squad after a sham three-day trial, sparking outrage from the UK and its Western allies.

Aiden Aslin, 28, and Shaun Pinner, 48, were convicted of taking action towards violent seizure of power by the so-called supreme court of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) on Thursday.

The men were accused of being ‘mercenaries’ for fighting with Ukrainian troops, with the verdict coming weeks after they were captured during the siege of Mariupol.

The judge said they were guilty of two war crimes amounting to 17 and seven years. He said the ‘aggregated penalty’ for the men was death. A third man, Moroccan national Saaudun Brahim, was convicted alongside them.

The three men said they will appeal the decision, Russian state-run Tass news agency reported. The court in the DPR, one of two self-proclaimed break-away states in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas, is not internationally recognised.

The UK Government insisted the judgment had no legitimacy and the pair should be treated as prisoners of war. The UK’s Foreign Secretary Liz Truss condemned the death sentences as a ‘sham judgment’ while No10 Downing Street said it was ‘deeply concerned’ by the development. ‘Under the Geneva Convention, prisoners of war are entitled to combatant immunity,’ said a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson. 

Elsewhere, Austrian Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Ewa Ernst-Dziedzic said: ‘The illegitimate verdict is a blatant breach of international law and a provocation by the Russian war party.’

Former care worker Aslin moved from Newark in Nottinghamshire to Ukraine in 2018 after meeting his now-fiancee. In the same year he became a marine with the Ukrainian military. Pinner, an ex-British Army soldier originally from Bedfordshire, moved to Ukraine four years ago to join the Ukrainian military.

The two Britons surrendered in April in Mariupol, the southern port city that was captured by Russian troops after a brutal weeks-long siege that all but levelled the city. They later appeared on Russian TV calling on Johnson to negotiate their release.  Brahim surrendered in March in the eastern town of Volnovakha.

‘The Supreme Court of the DPR passed the first sentence on mercenaries – the British Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner and the Moroccan Saadun Brahim were sentenced to death, RIA Novosti correspondent reports from the courtroom,’ RIA said on the Telegram messaging app.

Judge Alexander Nikulin said: ‘The aggregated penalty for the crimes [means] the sentence Aiden Aslin to an exceptional measure of punishment, the death penalty.

‘The aggregated penalty for the crimes [means] the sentence [of] Shaun Pinner to an exceptional measure of punishment, the death penalty.’  

The judge did not mention another British detainee Andrew Hill, 35, a father of four from Plymouth, who surrendered separately to Vladimir Putin’s forces, but who has also been warned about a death penalty.

The sentence was issued after a three day trial in which the five ‘witnesses’ in the case did not appear. The three men stood in a court cage.

Aslin and Pinner were detained in April while fighting in Ukraine, before reportedly appearing in court in the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) on Wednesday.

They are said to have admitted ‘training in order to carry out terrorist activities,’ before appearing again on Thursday when they were sentenced.

It is believed the men will be permitted to lodge an appeal within one month, and to ask for a pardon from the rebel authorities in Donetsk.

The DPR released a video of the three men being read their sentences.

Pinner appeared distraught and close to tears as the execution verdict was announced. He stared at the ground. Aslin, meanwhile, was expressionless. 

Reacting to the news in the UK, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said on Twitter: ‘I utterly condemn the sentencing of Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner held by Russian proxies in eastern Ukraine.

‘They are prisoners of war. This is a sham judgment with absolutely no legitimacy. My thoughts are with the families. We continue to do everything we can to support them.’

A No 10 spokesman said: ‘We have said continually that prisoners of war shouldn’t be exploited for political purposes. You will know that under the Geneva Convention prisoners of war are entitled to combatant immunity and they should not be prosecuted for participation in hostilities.

‘So we will continue to work with the Ukrainian authorities to try and secure the release of any British nationals who were serving in the Ukrainian armed forces and who are being held as prisoners of war.’

Tory former minister Robert Jenrick, who represents the Newark constituency where Mr Aslin lived, called for the Russian ambassador to the UK to be summoned to the Foreign Office.

He said: ‘This disgusting Soviet-era style show trial is the latest reminder of the depravity of Putin’s regime. Russia should be clear, they cannot treat British citizens like this and get away with it.

‘Contrary to the Kremlin’s propaganda, Aiden Aslin is not a mercenary. He has been living in Ukraine and serving in its armed forces before Russia’s illegal invasion and as a prisoner of war is entitled to protection under the Geneva Convention.

‘The Russian ambassador should be summoned to the Foreign Office to account for this most egregious breach of the Geneva Convention.

‘Aiden must be released as soon as practicable.’

Shadow Europe minister Stephen Doughty said: ‘It is an outrageous and shameful breach of international law for the Russian regime or its puppets to use an illegitimate court to prosecute legitimate prisoners of war who are entitled to combatant immunity.’

James Cleverly, Minister at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, also took to Twitter to condemn the ‘verdict’. ‘The UK position on the status of Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner is clear,’ he said.

‘They are prisoners of war and must be treated as such. The judgment against them has no legitimacy. We will continue to support them.

Stephen Doughty MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Europe, said: ‘It is an outrageous and shameful breach of international law for the Russian regime or its puppets to use an illegitimate court to prosecute legitimate prisoners of war who are entitled to combatant immunity.

‘The international law of armed conflict must be upheld at all times. The FCDO must urgently support the families of these soldiers who will be in deep distress at this time.’

Layla Moran – the Lib Dem foreign affairs spokeswoman – said: ‘This is horrific and a clear breach of international law. My thoughts are with these brave men and their families at this deeply distressing time.

‘It’s vital that the UK Government swiftly engages with international partners – we need a unified front of condemnation at this egregious decision.’

Human rights organisation Amnesty International called the decision ‘grotesque’, saying that Thursday’s court appearance bore all the hallmarks of a show-trial.

‘This is a grotesque decision,’ Amnesty International UK’s Crisis Response Manager, said. ‘This so-called trial always had the appearance of a show trial designed to exert pressure on the UK, and these sentences look like they’re intended to fire a warning shot to the UK over its support for Ukraine in this brutal war.

‘The Geneva Conventions clearly state that prisoners of war must not be tried or sentenced simply for participating in hostilities, and still less should they ever receive death sentences.

‘Russia and its proxies in the Donetsk People’s Republic will be adding to a massive catalogue of war crimes if they attempt to carry out these sentences.

‘The UK and the UN and other bodies should inform Moscow that these sentences are completely unacceptable and must be quashed immediately.’

RIA news agency said Sunday that the investigation found Aslin had taken part in ‘the armed aggression of Ukraine to forcibly seize power in the republic for a reward.’

‘The criminal case was sent to court, the first hearing will be held soon,’ it noted. 

The announcement from the DPR Prosecutor General’s Office, which was posted to Telegram, said Mr Aslin had been charged with four separate offences: Committing a crime as part of a criminal group; forcible seizure of power or forcible retention of power; being a mercenary; and the promotion of training in terrorist activities.

‘Taking into account wartime, on the basis of the provisions of the current main law, according to the results of the trial, the mercenary may be assigned an exceptional measure of punishment – the death penalty,’ the statement said.

Aslin had previously travelled to Syria in 2015 to fight for the Kurds in a western-backed alliance against ISIS, and he made headlines on his return to the UK in 2016 when he was arrested and charged with terrorism offences. All charges were dropped.

Aslin then returned to Syria in 2017 to help in the fight to re-take the city of Raqqa, which had been the de-facto capital of ISIS’s terror-state.

After being arrested in the UK a second time trying to return from Syria via Greece, Aslin moved to Ukraine after falling for Diane.

Having heard about the fight against Russia in Donbas from Ukrainian volunteers in Syria, he was persuaded to join the military and in 2018 signed up as a marine.

Aslin completed three tours of the frontline and was dug into trenches in the Donbas in late February when Putin’s troops stormed across the border in a second invasion.

However, his unit surrendered to the invaders two days ago after they ran out of supplies and ammunition following 48 days of conflict in and around the besieged port city. 

Pinner, meanwhile, is a former Royal Anglian soldier originally from Bedfordshire. He also fought alongside Ukrainian resistance fighters. He had moved to Ukraine four years before joining Ukrainian marines.

In footage shared by Ria Novosti on social media on Wednesday, a translator can be heard asking Mr Aslin if he would ‘plead guilty’ to an offence, to which he replied: ‘Yes.’

Ria Novosti reported yesterday that 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. 

The video appeared to show the two Britons in the dock in the pro-Russian territory’s supreme court alongside a third man, reported to be Mr Brahim.

On Wednesday, the Foreign Office condemned the exploitation of prisoners of war for political purposes in the wake of the footage being released, and said it was working with the Ukrainian government on the issue of British captives.

Jenrick said Wednesday Mr Aslin should be returned home at the earliest opportunity, possibly through a prisoner exchange.

The MP condemned the ‘trumped-up charges’ faced by both Britons and accused Russia of a ‘completely outrageous breach of international law’.

On Monday, Dominic Raab said the Foreign Office will ‘make all the representations’ on Mr Aslin’s behalf and his family have also issued an emotional statement calling for his release.

They said: ‘We, the family of Aiden Aslin, wish to ask for privacy at this time from the media. This is a very sensitive and emotional time for our family, and we would like to say thank you to all that have supported us.

‘We are currently working with the Ukrainian government and the Foreign Office to try and bring Aiden home. Aiden is a much-loved man and very much missed, and we hope that he will be released very soon.’

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: ‘We are working with the government of Ukraine on the detention of British Nationals.

‘We condemn the exploitation of Prisoners of War for political purposes. They are entitled to combatant immunity and should not be prosecuted for participation in hostilities.’

Western countries have provided weapons and aid for Ukraine since the February 24 invasion, while a number of people from abroad have come to fight against Russian forces.

The fiercest fighting is now focused on Severodonetsk in the Lugansk region, where Ukrainian officials say their outgunned forces are still holding out amid street battles despite the city being mostly under Russian control.

The regional governor of Lugansk – also part of the Donbas – said Western artillery would quickly help secure a Ukrainian victory for the bombarded city.

‘As soon as we have long-range artillery to be able to conduct duels with Russian artillery, our special forces can clean up the city in two to three days,’ governor Sergiy Gaiday said. 

In his evening address to the Ukrainian people on Wednesday, Zelensky said the battle for the city was ‘probably one of the most difficult throughout this war.

‘In many ways, the fate of our Donbas is being decided there.’

Up to 100 Ukrainian soldiers were being killed every day in frontline fighting and as many as 500 wounded, Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said.

The city of Lysychansk, which is separated from Severodonetsk by a river, is still in Ukrainian hands but under fierce Russian bombardment.

After being repelled from Kyiv following their February 24 invasion, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s troops have refocused their offensive on the Donbas.

Pro-Russian separatists have held part of that region since 2014.

Moscow, which has repeatedly warned the West against getting involved in the conflict, said it had targeted a Ukrainian training centre for ‘foreign mercenaries’ in the Zhytomyr region, west of Kyiv.

The Ukrainian presidency said four people were killed in a Russian air strike on Toshkivka, a village around 14 miles south of Severodonetsk.

Four more people were killed in fighting in Donetsk and shelling killed two in the north-eastern city of Kharkiv, it said. Another person was killed in the Mykolayiv region in the south.

The war’s shockwaves are spreading around the world. At the United Nations, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres added his voice to increasingly dire warnings.

‘For people around the world, the war is threatening to unleash an unprecedented wave of hunger and destitution, leaving social and economic chaos in its wake,’ he said.

Zelensky on Thursday called for Russia to be expelled from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), blaming Moscow for ‘causing hunger’ and spurring the global grain crisis by invading his country.