Briton pleads not guilty  for mercenary charges in Russian-backed court

• John Harding, Andrew Hill, and Dylan Healy are among five European men on trial in Donetsk.
• Could face death penalty under statutes of self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.
• All five plead not guilty to charges of mercenarism and training to seize power by force.

Three Britons have pleaded not guilty to mercenary accusations in a rebel court in Ukraine sponsored by Russia.

John Harding, Andrew Hill, and Dylan Healy are among five European men on trial in Donetsk before a court run by Kremlin-backed separatists.

Mr Harding, Croatian Vjekoslav Prebeg, and Swede Mathias Gustafsson, who were apprehended in and near the port city of Mariupol, could face the death penalty under the statutes of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.

According to Russian state-owned news agency TASS, all five individuals pleaded not guilty to charges of mercenarism and “undertaking training to seize power by force.”

The next court hearing in their case is set until October, according to Interfax, citing a statement from the separatists’ court.

Mr Healy, a 22-year-old humanitarian worker in Ukraine, was apprehended in April at a checkpoint south of the city of Zaporizhzhia alongside fellow British national Paul Urey. In July, he died in detention after being charged with “mercenary operations.” Mr Hill, a military volunteer, was also apprehended by Russian forces in April.

Mr Harding had been fighting in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine since 2018.

He was born in Sunderland and approached Boris Johnson for help last month after being told he faced the death penalty.

Donetsk authorities sentenced to death two Britons, Aiden Aslin, 28, and Shaun Pinner, 48, as well as Moroccan national Saaudun Brahim, for being mercenaries in June.

They were all apprehended by Russian forces while fighting in Ukraine, and all three have challenged their convictions.

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