JAKARTA - There is no reason to pardon two British nationals who were sentenced to death last week after being caught fighting for Ukraine, the leader of the Russia-backed Donetsk Region said on Sunday.
A court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic found two Britons, Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, and Moroccan Brahim Saadoun, guilty of mercenary activities seeking to overthrow the republic.
Britain says Aslin and Pinner are regular soldiers, and should be exempt from prosecution for participating in the war, according to the Geneva Conventions.
Meanwhile, the pro-Russian separatists who control Donetsk say they committed a serious crime and have one month to appeal.
"I see no reason, precondition, for me to issue a pardon decision," said Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) leader Denis Pushilin, citing Reuters from Russian news agencies June 13.
Donetsk and Lugansk are two breakaway entities backed by Russia in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, where Russia says it is struggling to completely liberate both regions from Kyiv.
Three days before launching the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the two territories as independent states, a move both Ukraine and the West condemned as illegal.
Separately, the Aslin family said he and Pinner "were not, and have never been, mercenaries".
They were living in Ukraine when war broke out and "as members of the Ukrainian armed forces, must be treated with the same respect as any other prisoners of war," the family said in a statement.
As previously reported, 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.
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