A statement from officials in the breakaway region of Ukraine reportedly said they were “preparing a place for their execution”, which would be carried out by firing squad and without any prior warning
Pro-Russians in eastern Ukraine said they were preparing a place for her execution of two Britons who have been sentenced to death, reports the “Mirror”.
The Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinnerwho were fighting with the Ukrainian army, were defending the city of Mariupol when they were captured by Vladimir Putin’s forces in April.
A statement from officials in the breakaway region of Ukraine reportedly said they were “preparing a place for their execution”, which would be carried out by firing squad and without any prior warning. The representative of the DPR, Denys Pushilinadded: “Everything is ready. It won’t be public».
The breakaway state also defended its right to impose the death penalty.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Natalia Nikonorova, said the two Britons were sentenced to death for fighting as “mercenaries”. “We consider being a mercenary a heinous crime because people, for pay, come to another country to kill other people, despite the fact that they have no personal goals connected to the conflict in question“, she said. “Yes, it is the highest measure of punishment, but this is provided for in our legislation and is not connected with the further process of recognition of the Donetsk People’s Republic by other states».
Ashlin and Pinner’s appeals are pending after the death sentences were imposed. Their relatives say they are soldiers who were under contract with the Ukrainian military and therefore entitled to the protection of the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war.
So far, only Russia and Syria have recognized the DPRK as independent, but Nikonorova said she was also in talks with the North Korean ambassador. In a move denounced by Kyiv and the West as illegal, Russia recognized the independence of the DPRK and another breakaway entity, the Luhansk Democratic Republic, three days before President Vladimir Putin sent his forces into Ukraine on February 24 to a “special military operation,” as he calls it.
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