DONETSK, June 23. /TASS/. UK citizen Aiden Aslin sentenced to death in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) for participating in combat in Ukraine as a mercenary, called his mother to say goodbye, his lawyer told TASS on Thursday.

Aslin’s family hopes that the UK will address the DPR for a pardon, attorney Pavel Kosovan said. "He is in a pessimistic mood and does not believe that he will stay alive and [he believes] they will execute him. My client thinks that his chances of remaining alive are slim and he informed his mother about this in a phone conversation," the lawyer said. "The family hopes that the country will address the republic’s leadership, however, we only hear empty statements by the UK," he added.

According to the attorney, earlier he contacted his client’s mother and told her that he would appeal the death sentence on his own. "[His] Mom turned to the UK Foreign Office and is expecting that they will help [her] son," he noted. To date, not a single individual from the UK has officially addressed "the court, or any state agencies." The family hopes that the UK will interfere here on behalf of its citizen.

On June 9, a court in the DPR handed capital punishment verdicts to two British nationals, Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin, as well as Moroccan Brahim Saadoun, for participating in combat actions in Ukraine as mercenaries. The DPR’s Prosecutor General’s Office earlier said that testimony obtained from Pinner, Aslin and Saadoun proved their involvement in crimes such as forcible seizure of power and mercenary activities. None of them have appealed the verdict so far and their lawyers are preparing the necessary paperwork.