Ukraine War: Arrested Britons Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner Appear at Russian Secession Court | UK News
Two British men captured by the Russians and accused of being mercenaries have appeared in court on charges that carry the death penalty.
Aiden Aslin, from Newark in Nottinghamshire, was seen in a Telegram video alongside Shaun Pinner, from Bedfordshire, and Saaudun Brahim from Morocco.
They are being held in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, a breakaway region in eastern Ukraine.
The men who say they are serving in regular military units in Mariupol should therefore be protected by the Geneva Conventions as prisoners of war.
A third Briton, Andrew Hill, also faces charges after being arrested in the Mykolaiv area. His relationship is unclear.
The President of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin, accused the men of “monstrous” crimes, such as attempts to seize power and crimes against groups of people.
He said their trial will open in the region’s supreme court.
Aslin’s family said in a statement on Tuesday that it was a “very sensitive and emotional time” and that they were working with the Ukrainian government and the UK Foreign Office to try to free the man. he is 28 years old.
“Aiden is a much loved and missed man, and we hope that he will be released very soon,” they said.
The former homecare worker joined Ukraine’s armed forces as a marine in 2018 and has applied for naturalization and has a Ukrainian fiancée.
Shaun Pinner, left, and Aiden Aslin, right, before their arrest
Mr Pinner was filmed in April saying that he was captured while protecting Mariupol, his adopted city.
His family insisted at the time that he was “neither a volunteer nor a mercenary but officially serving in the Ukrainian army”.
48 years old told Sky News a few months ago that he was on his fourth tour of duty in Ukraine after serving in the British Army for nine years.
He has lived in the country since 2018 and has a Ukrainian wife.
Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said on Monday that the British government expected “laws of armed conflict to be represented” and that the Foreign Office would introduce “all representations”.
Russia’s current focus in the war is on capturing the eastern Donbas region, which includes Luhansk and Donetsk.
Separatists unilaterally established two breakaway republics there in 2014, but they are not recognized by Ukraine.
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