Donetsk Court Charges Britons, Swedes And Croats As Mercenaries: Three Face Death Penalty

Prison illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Christian Senger)

JAKARTA - A Russian-backed separatist court in Donetsk has indicted five foreign nationals caught fighting in Ukraine as mercenaries, with three of them facing the death penalty.

John Harding (UK), Vjekoslav Prebeg (Croatia) and Mathias Gustafsson (Sweden), who were arrested in and around the port city of Mariupol, face the possible death penalty under the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) law. TASS August 16th.

Two other Britons, Dylan Healy and Andrew Hill, were also charged, but did not face the death penalty. The five defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against them.

"Croatia rejects the charges and does not consider them groundless and valid because they are contrary to international law and international conventions on the treatment of detained civilians and prisoners of war," the Croatian Foreign Ministry said.

The UK Foreign Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to TASS, Dylan Healy and Andrew Hill refused to cooperate in the investigation and testify. Meanwhile, Mathias Gustafsson who was held captive at the Azovstal factory, during the investigation denied the allegations of participating in hostilities, as part of Ukrainian troops on the territory of the DPR.

Earlier, a Donetsk court sentenced two Britons and a Moroccan to death during fighting with Ukrainian forces against Russia last June. The charge, trying to seize power by force, and becoming a mercenary.

The foreign government refuses to negotiate with the DPR, one of two Russia-backed entities that has controlled parts of eastern Ukraine's Donbas region since 2014, citing its internationally recognized status as part of Ukraine.