A court in the DPR has accused five more foreigners of hiring, three face the death penalty, Russian media reported on August 15.
On August 15, Reuters, citing several Russian media outlets, said that British John Harding, Croat Vekoslav Prebeg and Swedish citizen Mathias Gustafsson, captured in Mariupol and its environs, face a possible death sentence under the laws of a fake under-republic.
TASS propagandists said two other Britons, Dylan Healy and Andrew Hill, have also been charged but are not facing execution.
All five defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges. According to the so-called judge, the court session will resume in early October.
The occupying authorities in June sentenced to death two Britons and one Moroccan captured in combat with Ukrainian forces against Russia on charges of attempted coercion and hiring.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken reacted to the situation:
We are concerned about reports of accusations against British, Swedish and Croatian citizens by illegal authorities in eastern Ukraine. Russia and its henchmen are obliged to respect international humanitarian law, including the rights and protection of prisoners of war.
On August 12, it became known that the so-called supreme court of the insignificant DPR on August 15 will consider the criminal case of six foreigners who fought on the side of Ukraine and were taken prisoner. The sessions will be open.
If the guilt of the defendants is proved, according to the laws of the fake under-republic, they face punishment up to and including execution, the terrorists have no moratorium on execution. In June, two British citizens Sean Pinner and Aiden Eslin, as well as a Moroccan citizen Brahim Saadoun, were sentenced to death in Donetsk. They were accused of hiring because they fought on the side of Ukraine.
Also in Mariupol, a so-called tribunal over the fighters of Azov is being prepared. They built high cages on the Philharmonic stage and are building a hangar to receive paddy wagons. The start date of the process is not yet known. The families of the prisoners from “Azov” appealed to international organizations with a request to influence the representatives of the terrorists of the DPR to cancel the “tribunal”.
Source: Racurs
