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UK mercenary Aiden Aslin appeals death sentence, DPR’s supreme court confirms

Earlier, Aiden’s lawyer Pavel Kosovan informed that the defense asked to dismiss the charges due to the absence of components of crime in the actions of the defendant

MOSCOW, July 4. /TASS/. The Supreme Court of the Donetsk People’s Republic has received an appeal filed by the defense lawyer of UK mercenary Aiden Aslin who was sentenced to death in the DPR, a court source told TASS on Monday.

"Today the lawyer of convicted Aslin Aiden filed an appeal to the Appeals Chamber of the Supreme Court with a request to change the sentence," she said.

Earlier, Aiden’s lawyer Pavel Kosovan told TASS that the defense asked to cancel the sentence for Aiden Aslin under Part 2 of Article 34 of the DPR’s Criminal Code ("committing crimes by a group of persons") and Article 323 of the republic’s Criminal Code ("seizure of power or forcible retention of power") and to dismiss these charges due to the absence of components of crime in the actions of the defendant.

Yulia Tserkovnikova, the lawyer for British national Shaun Pinner who was also sentenced to death for fighting alongside Ukrainian forces as a mercenary, also appealed the sentence, seeking to mitigate it to life in prison. The court said at the time the appeal would be considered within two months of sending the case to an appeals chamber.

The defense of Moroccan mercenary Brahim Saadoun also filed an appeal on Friday, his lawyer Yelena Vesnina said.

On June 9, a DPR court sentenced the two British men, Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin, together with a Moroccan, Brahim Saadoun, to death for fighting alongside the Ukrainian Armed Forces 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.

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