JUST IN: Two British fighters sentenced to death in Russia

Pro-Russian officials have sentenced to death two British men and a Moroccan national captured while fighting in the Ukrainian army in Mariupol, Russian state media has said.

A court in Russian-controlled east Ukraine convicted Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner after a days-long process that observers have called a “show trial” on “trumped-up charges” meant to imitate war crimes trials against Russian soldiers in Kyiv.

Aslin, 28, from Newark, and Pinner, 48, from Watford, were convicted by the court in Russian-controlled territory in Donetsk alongside Saaudun Brahim on charges of “terrorism”.

Both Britons have said they were serving in the Ukrainian marines, making them active-duty soldiers who should be protected by the Geneva conventions on prisoners of war.

However, the Russian state media has portrayed the men as mercenaries, and the court has convicted them on the charge of “being a mercenary”.

Russian news agency, TASS, said the men intended to appeal.

Source: Newsband

Kalu Idika

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