DONETSK, July 1. /TASS/. The defense of Moroccan mercenary Brahim Saadoun, sentenced to death in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), has filed an appeal, his lawyer Yelena Vesnina told TASS on Friday.

"Yes, I filed [the appeal]," the agency's interlocutor said. The appeal suspends the verdict’s entry into force.

Earlier, a representative of the press service of the DPR Supreme Court confirmed to TASS the receipt of an appeal against the sentence of British national Shaun Pinner, who was sentenced to death for participating in hostilities as a mercenary of the Ukrainian armed formations, from his lawyer Yulia Tserkovnikova. Pavel Kosovan, the lawyer of another convicted mercenary Aidan Aslin, earlier specified to TASS that he was still preparing an appeal.

On June 9, a DPR court sentenced Pinner, Aslin, and Saadoun to death on charges of participating in combat operations as mercenaries in Ukrainian armed formations. They had been captured in Donbass.

The DPR Prosecutor General's Office reported that the evidence obtained allowed to establish their involvement in the commission of crimes under Part 2 of Article 34 of the DPR Criminal Code (Crimes committed by a group of persons), Article 323 of the DPR Criminal Code (Forcible seizure of power or forcible retention of power) and Article 430 of the DPR Criminal Code (Mercenary activities).