Death Penalty News

Russia Releases Morocco's Brahim Saadoun After Riyadh Mediation. Saadoun received a death sentence in June. Russian authorities released today 10 foreign prisoners, including Morocco's Ibrahim Saadoun. The decision came following a mediation by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement that a plane carrying the prisoners landed in Saudi Arabia. "The relevant Saudi authorities received and transferred them from Russia to the kingdom and are facilitating procedures for their respective countries," the statement said. Russian authorities arrested Saadoun in April while fighting with the Ukrainian forces. Footage of his interrogation instantly became viral once shared online. Subsequently, The Donetsk court sentenced him to death in June. The court argued that the death penalty was the appropriate punishment for him, describing him as a member of foreign mercenaries in Ukraine. In a recent interview with Russian media RT, Saado...

Aug 15 (Reuters) - A Russian-backed separatist court in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk charged five foreign nationals captured fighting with Ukrainian forces with being mercenaries on Monday, saying three could face the death penalty, Russian media reported. Briton John Harding, Croat Vjekoslav Prebeg and Swede citizen Mathias Gustafsson, who were captured in and around the port city of Mariupol, face a possible death sentence under the laws of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Russian state-owned news agency TASS reported. Two more Britons, Dylan Healy and Andrew Hill, were also charged but do not face execution.  All five of the accused pleaded not guilty to the charges, TASS reported. It cited the judge as saying that the trial would resume in early October. The Donetsk authorities in June sentenced to death two Britons and one Moroccan citizen captured fighting with Ukrainian forces against Russia on charges of attempting to forcibly seize power, and of being mercen...

A Russian-backed separatist leader in eastern Ukraine has indicated that 3 foreigners sentenced to death for "mercenary activities" could be executed in secrecy if their appeals against their sentences are denied, Russian state-run TASS news agency said. Denis Pushilin, head of a Russia-backed separatist group in Ukraine's Donetsk region, was also quoted as saying on July 13 that the timing of any executions would be up to the penitentiary service. "The penitentiary service will be guided by its internal decisions," Pushilin said. "The execution of the sentences shall not be made public." Pushilin told Russian TV that "all the foreigners filed appeals.” "We are awaiting a court session. If the court finds this punitive measure and the sentence to be appropriate, then their cases will be handed over to the corresponding agency to carry out the verdict," he said. A day earlier, the Russia-backed separatists lifted a moratorium on the death...

A British man, John Harding, who had been fighting Russia as part of the Azov Regiment was captured by Russian proxies and is being held in the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” in eastern Ukraine. That’s according to the BBC referring to Harding’s video interview with a Russian TV presenter. In the video, he says he could face the death penalty and turns to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to facilitate his release. The Foreign Office said it was concerned by his detention. “It understood Mr Harding was captured in May when Ukrainian units he was fighting with at the Azovstal steelworks were forced to surrender. The units had been defending the south-eastern city of Mariupol at the time. The video says he was part of the Azov regiment. Mr Harding had told friends he was fighting as part of the Ukrainian National Guard,” the report reads. Harding had been fighting in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region since 2018. He previously told the BBC he had travelled there to use his s...

The so-called “Supreme Court” of the artificial “Donetsk People’s Republic” – has lifted the moratorium on the death penalty, a move that was taken as a clear sign that the “DNR” intends to execute two British and one Moroccan citizen who Russia via its proxies in the “DNR” allege were mercenaries in Ukraine. The men have been held for months following their capture in battle in the eastern part of Ukraine. As the Kyiv Post has earlier reported, the British soldiers and their families have publicly claimed that the men were not mercenaries, but rather formally Marines of the Ukrainian military. However, the Russian proxies have maintained that the men were, and would be treated as, mercenaries. International law generally forbids the execution of prisoners of war (POWs) – but the same guarantee is not afforded to mercenaries. RELATED | European court tells Russia to ensure two Britons do not face death penalty British Foreign Minister, Liz Truss, wrote on Twitter that “I utterly condem...

LONDON -The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) said on Thursday it had issued an order to Russia to ensure that two Britons captured after fighting for Ukraine do not face the death penalty. Earlier this month, a court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) in eastern Ukraine sentenced British citizens Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner to death, accusing them of “mercenary activities”. The ECHR said it had issued an order for interim measures, telling Russia it “should ensure that the death penalty imposed on the applicants was not carried out; ensure appropriate conditions of their detention; and provide them with any necessary medical assistance and medication”. Russia, whose parliament passed legislation this month to remove it from the jurisdiction of Europe’s top human rights court, said it was not bound by the order. “Russia no longer complies with the prescriptions of the EHCR, that’s all there is to say,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. He said “the fate of ...

Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine where 2 Britons and a Moroccan have been sentenced to death say the death penalty will start being used from 2025, according to an updated criminal code of the breakaway Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). The DPR has had the death penalty on its statute books since 2014, but no legislation outlining how to enforce it until now. Rights group Amnesty International, which tracks the use of the death penalty worldwide, has not recorded any instances of official executions in the region. A court in the DPR in June sentenced two Britons - Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner - and Moroccan Brahim Saadoun to death for "mercenary activities" after they were captured fighting with Ukrainian forces. Their lawyers say they will appeal the decision, which was handed down after a hasty non-jury trial with no access for independent or international media. It was unclear what the new rules - outlined in an updated version of the DPR's criminal exe...

The plight of the Moroccan man who has been sentenced to death in Ukraine has been largely ignored, his sister says. Brahim Saaudun, 21, and two Britons were captured fighting with the Ukrainian army and tried as mercenaries by a Russian proxy court. The British and Ukrainian governments have condemned the trial but Morocco is yet to comment. Iman Saaudun told the BBC he had been "left aside" as attention focused on the other men. "At first, when they captured all of them, then it was like different news about every person," she told the BBC. "There wasn't much attention on my brother... Maybe it's because of my government, they are not doing much about it, they are literally silent." The BBC has contacted the Moroccan government for a response. Like many countries in Africa and the Middle East, Morocco has avoided taking sides in the conflict in Ukraine, calling instead for a peaceful resolution to the war which started with Russia's invasion ...

According to the families of Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, both are  members of the regular Ukrainian army, having moved to the country in 2018 and married Ukrainian women. Supporters of Russian President Vladimir Putin have been accused of mocking the potential execution of two British fighters captured in Ukraine and claiming the UK was not doing anything to help them out. A court in the breakaway republic of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine had last week sentenced the Britons – Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner – to death, after convicting them of “being mercenaries ”. RELATED |  Death sentence for Ukraine foreign fighters is a war crime: UN rights office The duo, who had surrendered to Russian forces during the siege of the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, have a month to appeal and, if successful, they could receive a life term or 25-year prison sentence instead of the death penalty.  Pro-Russian officials in Donetsk claimed the men’s actions had “led to the deaths and injury ...