LONDON, June 10. /TASS/. The UK government will use all diplomatic channels it can to have the two British mercenaries facing capital punishment in the Donetsk People’s Repulbic released, a British minister said, when speaking to Sky News on Friday.
"As the [British] Foreign Secretary [Liz Truss] has made clear, we will offer all support we can to them and their families," said Robin Walker, the British minister of state for school standards, referring to Aide Aslin and Shaun Pinner. "We have been absolutely clear throughout that these people should be treated as prisoners of war under the Geneva convention," Walker insisted.
"There is no basis on which they could be put on trial. This is an illegal court in a sham government," Walker said. "We don’t recognize it has any authority. We will continue to use all diplomatic channels to make the case for these prisoners of war who should be treated accordingly," the UK official asserted.
The British minister said he didn’t have the detail on whether Truss or her deputies had spoken to Russian Ambassador to London Andrey Kelin. "The Foreign Secretary utterly condemned the approaches being taken here [in the DPR] to them (Pinner and Aslin - TASS), and we will use every method at our disposal to take this issue up," Walker concluded.
On Thursday, a DPR court handed Britons Pinner and Aslin, together with a Moroccan, Brahim Saadoun, the death penalty for fighting on the side of the Kiev regime as mercenaries. They were captured in the DPR.
The DPR Prosecutor General’s Office said the testimony obtained from Pinner, Alin and Brahim confirmed their role in crimes, such as the forcible seizure of power and mercenary activities. After the verdict was read out, the presiding judge said the convicts were entitled to file an appeal requesting a pardon. The convicted foreigners also have a month to challenge the verdict.