Russia: Two Britons accused of ‘mercenary action’ in Ukraine

LAST UPDATE: 22.48

Britons Dylan Healy and Andrew Hill are accused of “mercenary activities” by prosecutors in the pro-Russian separatist regions of eastern Ukraine, Russian news agency Tass reported.

According to this agency, citing sources in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, prosecutions were brought against the two men based on Article 430 of the criminal code.

The two men are refusing to cooperate with the investigation, he added.

Many Westerners went to Ukraine, either to help defend the country against the Russian invasion, or to provide humanitarian aid to the millions of Ukrainians who saw their lives turned upside down.

On April 29, Russia’s defense ministry released a video showing a wounded Briton captured in Ukraine, identified as Andrew Hill. According to the ministry, the man surrendered to Russian forces in the Mykolayiv region, which is at least 80 kilometers west of Donetsk. He carried a gun, wore camouflage and told investigators he was from Plymouth, southern England, and had four children.

On the same day, the BBC reported that according to the non-profit humanitarian organization Presidium Network, one of its volunteers, Dylan Healy, was arrested at a checkpoint in southern Ukraine along with another volunteer, Paul Arey.

Last month two other Britons and a Moroccan were sentenced to death by a pro-Russian separatist court as “mercenaries”. Russia’s Tass news agency reported today that two of them, Brahim Saadun and Sean Pinner, have appealed the decision and that the latter is asking for his sentence to be commuted to life. The third, Aiden Ashlin, has yet to appeal.

The revised criminal code of the Donetsk People’s Republic, which came into effect today, states that the death penalty will be implemented from 2025. But it is unclear what this means for the three men.

SOURCE: AMOE