Denis Pushilin, head of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), said Sean Pinner, 48, Aiden Aslin, 28, and 21-year-old Moroccan Brahim Saadoune would be shot by a firing squad. The men were sentenced to death on June 9 by a DPR court for fighting as mercenaries, but observers say they are more likely to be exchanged in a prisoner swap with Ukraine. The soldiers denied being mercenaries and said they were contract soldiers fighting for Ukraine’s 36th Marine Brigade and should be treated as prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention. There has been a gradual increase in pressure from the DPR in recent weeks over the planned executions, which analysts said may indicate the rebel region wants to maneuver itself into a better negotiating position ahead of a possible prisoner exchange. Ukraine’s government has said it will exchange prisoners it has captured in exchange for the British men, and Mr Pushilin also gave extra flexibility to the DRC, saying a date for the executions had not yet been decided as the men’s lawyers appealed against their convictions. .
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The DPR has also hinted that it may suspend his death sentence. He wants to join Russia at the end of the war. Russia has a moratorium on the death penalty, and DPR officials have said they eventually want to match Russia’s position. The DPR is holding at least two other British men, one who fought with Ukrainian forces and the other a humanitarian, as well as at least two former US soldiers. Mr Pinner, a former British army soldier, and Mr Ashlin were arrested after a two-month siege of the Mariupol steelworks that ended in mid-April. Russian forces have entered the city of Shiversk in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Russian state news agency TASS reported on Wednesday. Ukraine said Russia had not launched new attacks on the front line that includes Shiversk, but that the city had been shelled by artillery.
