Britain Calls The Trial Whose Death Sentence Had Two Citizens Baseless And Illegal, Russian Foreign Minister: They Committed A Crime

Menteri Luar Negeri Russia Sergei Lavrov. (Wikimedia Commons/Administration of the President of Russia)

JAKARTA - Russia's Foreign Minister confirmed that two Britons and a Moroccan were sentenced to death for crimes in Donetsk, as Britain criticized the verdict and promised to make every effort to free its citizens.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the two Britons and one Moroccan who was sentenced to death on Thursday in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), had committed crimes on the territory of the self-proclaimed country.

"At present, the trial you mentioned is being held under the laws of the Donetsk People's Republic, because the crimes in question were committed on the territory of the DPR," Foreign Minister Lavrov said.

Separately, the British Government will use all diplomatic channels to release two British mercenaries who are facing the death penalty.

"As UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has made clear, we will offer all the support we can to them and their families," said Robin Walker, the UK state minister for school standards, referring to Aide Aslin and Shaun Pinner, citing TASS. .

"We have been very clear all along that these people should be treated as prisoners of war under the Geneva conventions," Walker urged.

"There is no basis on which they can be tried. This is an illegal trial in a false government," Walker criticized.

"We do not recognize that it has authority. We will continue to use all diplomatic channels to make a case for these prisoners of war to be treated properly," he stressed.

Walker said he had no details about whether Truss or his deputy had spoken to Russia's ambassador to London Andrey Kevin.

"The Secretary of State strongly condemns the approach taken here (in the DPR) to them (Pinner and Aslin, TASS), and we will use every method at our disposal to raise this issue," Walker concluded.

It is known that a House of Representatives court sentenced British Pinner and Aslin to death, along with a Moroccan, Brahim Saadoun, for fighting on the side of the Kyiv regime as mercenaries last Thursday.

The DPR Attorney General's Office said testimony obtained from Pinner, Alin and Brahim confirmed their role in crimes, such as forced seizure of power and mercenary activities.

After the verdict was read out, the presiding judge said the convicts had the right to appeal for clemency. Foreign convicts also have one month to challenge the verdict.