BBC News 9 June 2022
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| Aiden Aslin (left) and Shaun Pinner (centre) have been pictured in footage alongside Moroccan national Saaudun Brahim |
Two Britons and a Moroccan man captured by Russian forces in Ukraine have been sentenced to death, the Russian-owned news agency RIA Novosti is reporting.
Aiden Aslin, 28, from Nottinghamshire, Shaun Pinner, 48, from Bedfordshire, and a third man, Moroccan national Saaudun Brahim, appeared in a court in the Donetsk People's Republic, which is held by pro-Russian rebels.
The court is not internationally recognised.
They are reportedly charged with being mercenaries. But the British men's families say they were in Ukraine's military.
Both British men are serving members of Ukraine’s armed forces and the UK has made clear they are prisoners of war entitled to immunity and should not face prosecution for taking part in hostilities.
On Telegram RIA News said: "The Supreme Court of the DPR passed the first sentence on mercenaries- the British Aiden Aslin and Sean Pinner and the Moroccan Saadun Brahim were sentenced to death, RIA Novosti correspondent reports from the courtroom."
Two Britons and a Moroccan captured by Russian forces in Ukraine have been found guilty and sentenced to death in an un-recognised court in Donetsk, the territory held by pro-Russian rebels.
They are all former fighters in the Ukrainian military who were captured in Mariupol by Russian forces.
Aiden Aslin
One of the British men is Aiden Aslin, 28, whose story the BBC has been following in the past.
Aslin is from Newark in Nottinghamshire, and his family said he moved to Mykolaiv in Ukraine in 2018. He became a marine with the Ukrainian military in 2018, was engaged to marry a Ukrainian, and had made the country his home.
The former care worker had also previously fought with Kurdish armed units in Syria against so-called Islamic State.
Since his capture, he has appeared in photos and video footage on Russian television in which he looked bruised and swollen as he was questioned.
Shaun Pinner
The other British man, Shaun Pinner, is 48-years-old and originally from Bedfordshire. His family said he was a "well-respected" soldier in the British Army before he moved to Ukraine four years ago to use his previous experience and training with the Ukrainian military.
"Shaun enjoyed the Ukrainian way of life and considered Ukraine as his adopted country over the last four years. During this time, he met his Ukrainian wife who is very focussed on the humanitarian needs of the country," they said.
Pinner's three-year contract was due to expire at the end of the year and he was planning to enter a humanitarian role in the country, according to his family.
"Shaun is a funny, much-loved, well-intentioned husband, son, father, brother and friend to many," they said.
The chair of the panel of judges who gave the death penalty has described sentence as just.
Alexander Nikulin, said the court had been guided by "not only the prescribed norms and riles, but the main, inviolable principle of justice," according to the Interfax news agency.
Interfax said the three men were tried for "mercenarism" and activities "aimed at seizing power and toppling the constitutional order" of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic.
Tass news agency quoted a lawyer acting on behalf of the defendants saying that all three "wished to" appeal against the sentence.
According to Pavel Kosovan, "they were not ready to hear" they were being given the death penalty.
