2 Britons, Moroccan sentenced to death for fighting for Ukraine

Two Britons and a Moroccan who were captured while fighting for Ukraine have been sentenced to death by a court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR).

DPR is one of Russia’s proxies in eastern Ukraine.

According to Russia’s Interfax news agency, the court found the three men – Britons Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner and Moroccan Brahim Saadoun – guilty of “mercenary activities.

They were also found guilty of committing actions aimed at seizing power and overthrowing the constitutional order of the DPR”.

The three men were captured while fighting for Ukraine against Russia and Russian-backed forces after Russia invaded on Feb. 24.

Their lawyer said they would appeal against the decision.

Britain slammed the court’s decision as a “sham judgment.”

“I utterly condemn the sentencing of Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner held by Russian proxies in eastern Ukraine,” Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said on Twitter.

“They are prisoners of war. This is a sham judgment with absolutely no legitimacy.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman said that, under the Geneva Conventions, prisoners of war were entitled to combatant immunity and they should not be prosecuted for participation in hostilities.

Robert Jenrick, the member of parliament for the district where Aslin’s family live, said the proceedings were akin to a “Soviet-era show trial”.

During the proceedings, the three men were held in a cage with black bars, guarded by soldiers with their faces covered and wearing arm-bands with the pro-Russian “Z” symbol, before being asked to stand while the verdict was read to them, a video from the courtroom published by the RIA Novosti news agency showed.

The hasty trial was held largely behind closed doors.

Less than 24 hours before the verdict was handed down, Pinner and Saadoun had pleaded guilty to actions aimed at the violent seizure of power, a video shared from the court by the RIA Novosti news agency showed.

Aslin appeared to have pleaded guilty to a lesser charge involving weapons and explosives.

“The evidence presented by the prosecution in this case allowed the court to pass a guilty verdict, not to mention the fact that all the defendants, without exception, pleaded guilty to all charges,” judge Alexander Nikulin told reporters at the court after handing down the verdict.