British men held by rebels in Ukraine plead not guilty

• Five men, including three from Britain, have pleaded not guilty.
• John Harding, Dylan Healy, and Andrew Hill appeared in court.
• The UK Foreign Office has condemned the trials as unlawful.

In a Russian proxy court, five men, including three from Britain, have denied being mercenaries fighting alongside Ukrainian forces against Russia.

In the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, John Harding, Dylan Healy, and Andrew Hill appeared in court.

Russian media reports that Mr. Harding, together with the Swede Mathias Gustafsson and the Croatian Vjekoslav Prebeg, may receive the death penalty.

The court is not acknowledged on a global scale.

Recently, it executed two British men and a Moroccan national. Not yet have the punishments been executed.

In a separatist part of Ukraine, the five men who appeared on Monday were carried into court while being shackled and wearing black bags over their heads.

The three men who could receive the death penalty, according to the Russian Tass news agency, were all apprehended in or close to Mariupol, the Ukrainian port city that Russian forces eventually took control of after months of relentless siege.

They are accused of trying to “seize power by force” and “taking part in armed conflict as mercenaries”.

According to sources in Russian media, the judge announced that the cases for all five individuals would continue to be heard in early October.

The British citizens’ relatives and friends insist that they were not hired guns and have demanded that they be handled as prisoners of war in accordance with the Geneva Conventions.

People who do not participate in combat, such as relief workers, and those who are no longer able to fight, such as prisoners of war, are protected from “acts of violence or intimidation” by international treaties.

Mr. Harding, a former service member who is from from Sunderland, has been fighting alongside Ukrainian forces since relocating there in 2018. He made a help-seeking video appearance in July, asking Prime Minister Boris Johnson for assistance.

With Ukraine’s International Legion, Mr. Hill has been engaged in combat.

Mr. Healy, a resident of Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, was taken at a checkpoint in April while working as a volunteer assistance worker for the Presidium Network in Ukraine. He was kept captive with Paul Urey, who passed away in July while being detained by rebels with Russian support.

The charity’s Dominik Byrne demanded that the men be handled with compassion.. “Dylan’s family are very concerned and worried,” he said.

“It’s shocking to see them in what is a kangaroo court, which really that has no standing in international law at all.

“They’re being treated totally against the Geneva Conventions and in a very hostile way, being transported without knowing where they are, so that’s totally unacceptable.”

Foreign nations have rejected the trials as being unjustified and will not engage in negotiations with the Donetsk People’s Republic.

According to the Croatian Foreign Ministry, “the indictment is dismissed and is not thought to be based or lawful.”

The UK Foreign Office has already declared that it opposes the use of civilian detainees for political ends.

Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin were given death sentences in June by the same court. The British soldiers who were captured while defending Ukraine were charged with being mercenaries.

Insisting that they were long-serving Ukrainian military personnel rather than mercenaries, their families.

The sentences were criticised by the UK and Ukraine for going against international laws that protect prisoners of war.

Also Read

 Russian troops capture another Briton in Ukraine

Russian proxies captured John Harding, a British citizen who had been fighting...