Amnesty International says that three foreign soldiers sentenced to death by a Russian proxy court is a situation that “has no precedent”.
Two Britons, Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, and Moroccan national Brahim Saaudun were captured by Russian troops while fighting for Ukraine.
All three were convicted by a court which is not internationally recognised in the pro-Russian, so-called Donetsk People’s Republic.
“The party which holds full responsibility over these individuals’ circumstances and fate at present, is Russia,” Denis Krivosheev, from Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia office, told Reuters.
“This situation has no precedent. This so-called Donetsk People’s Republic has a so-called criminal code in which it has a so-called death penalty, which this time, and this hasn’t happened before, they are applying to prisoners of war,” he said.
Krivosheev said he was concerned this could lead to similar cases.
“Could this happen again? Absolutely.”
