Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, where two Britons and a Moroccan have been sentenced to death, say the death penalty will come into effect from 2025 under the breakaway Donetsk People’s Republic’s (DPR) updated criminal code.
The DRC has had the death penalty in its legislation since 2014, but until now there are no laws to implement it. Amnesty International, which monitors the use of the death penalty around the world, has recorded no cases of official executions in the region.
A court in the GDR in June sentenced two Britons — Aiden Ashlin and Sean Pinner — and Moroccan Brahim Saadoun to death for “mercenary activities” after they were captured while fighting with Ukrainian forces. Their lawyers say they will appeal the verdict, which came after a hasty trial without a jury and without access to independent or international media.
It was unclear what the new rules – outlined in an updated version of the GDR’s criminal code published on the website of the breakaway region’s legislature – would mean for the men.
The new criminal code, which comes into effect today, also states that the death penalty is carried out by a firing squad and that the head of the separatist republic will have the final say on whether to pardon anyone sentenced to death.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) announced yesterday, Thursday, that it had instructed Russia to ensure that those convicted did not face the death penalty. The Kremlin has said it is not bound by the rulings of the ECtHR, from which Russia has withdrawn since it launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has justified his attack on Ukraine by saying he was protecting Russian-speakers in the eastern part of the country from what Moscow calls “genocide” by Kyiv.
Ukraine and the West say there is no persecution of Russians in the region, and Putin is using those claims as a pretext to seize territory and attempt to overthrow President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Leaders in the DRC and the neighboring self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic, recognized only by Russia and Syria, have expressed their desire to become part of Russia. GDR politicians argue that if the region joins Russia, they will follow Russia’s criminal code, which has a moratorium on the death penalty.
Russia and its proxies in Donbass say the foreign fighters are “mercenaries” and therefore not covered by the protections of the Geneva Convention which prohibits the execution of prisoners of war.
SOURCE: APE-ME
Source: Capital
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