Donetsk People’s Republic court sentences three foreigners fighting for Ukraine to death

The “Supreme Court” of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (LDN) has sentenced to death three foreigners, two Britons and a Moroccan, who fought on the side of Ukraine, according to the Russian website RBK. the Ria Novosti agency.

They are the British Sean Piner and Eden Aslin and the Moroccan Saadoun Brahim.

They were charged with acting as mercenaries (under Article 440 of the LDN Penal Code) and for violent seizure of power by a group of persons (under Articles 32 and 323 of the LDN Penal Code). The death penalty is provided for in the last article, given that the crime was allegedly committed during a period of war. The hearing began on June 7.

Eden Aslin has served in the 36th Marine Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine since 2018, according to the website Mediazona. He stayed in Ukraine because of his fiancée. According to his Twitter posts, he was captured in mid-April. Also in the “Donetsk People’s Republic” at the time was his friend, 48-year-old Sean Piner, a former British Royal Army soldier who was in the same brigade. Piner’s relatives pointed out that both Piner and Aslin were officially serving in the Ukrainian army under the law and were not mercenaries.

Brahim Saadoun, 21, arrived in Ukraine in 2019, where he studied at the School of Aerodynamics and Space Technologies of the Kiev Polytechnic. A year ago he left his studies and went to serve on a contract also in the 36th Marine Brigade. He was captured during fighting in the city of Volnovacha.

All three men said they would file an appeal, Reuters reported, citing Russia’s TASS news agency.