A British man sentenced to death by a court of Russian powers has been informed to fight in Ukraine that the execution will take place, his family said.
Aiden Aslin, 28, and Shaun Pinner, 48, were convicted of “terrorism” charges by a non-internationally recognized court earlier this month in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR).
The former care worker, originally from Newark in Nottinghamshire, told his family that his captors had stated that there had been no attempt by UK officials to negotiate on his behalf. His family said they had spoken to him in a phone call, in which he said his captors had told him “time is running out”.
Aslin’s grandmother, Pamela Hall, told the BBC: “No words, just no words. It must be the worst nightmare of all to have a family member threatened in this way.
“Aiden was very upset when he called his mother this morning. The conclusion is that Aiden has said that the DPR has told him that no one in the UK has contacted him and that he will be executed.
“I have to believe what Aiden told us, that if the DPR gets no response, then they will execute it. Obviously, I hope that’s not true.”
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss discussed the Aslin case with Ukrainian officials about 15 days ago and spoke of “efforts to secure the release of prisoners of war detained by Russian officials” with her Ukrainian counterpart , Dmytro Kuleba. Truss called the death sentences a “false sentence with absolutely no legitimacy.”
The Foreign Office is known to be investigating cases of British citizens who have been detained in Ukraine and is supporting the families of Aslin and Pinner in Bedfordshire. The two British men and a Moroccan national, said to be Saaudun Brahim, were captured in April while fighting in the Ukrainian army in the city of Mariupol.
It is understood that the men are the first Ukrainian soldiers to be tried by pro-Russian forces. The couple moved to Ukraine in 2018 and had served as part of the Ukrainian armed forces for several years before the Russian invasion.
Both have Ukrainian partners and had made the country their home. Aslin settled in the southern city of Mykolaiv and obtained Ukrainian citizenship, which he holds along with his British citizenship.
The Russian court ruled that the couple were “mercenaries”, accusing them of having been sent to fight in a foreign dispute over money.
He was charged with crimes such as violent seizure of power and training to carry out terrorist activities, according to Russian news media RIA Novosti.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy recently told British students that what Russia was doing to the British couple was a “tragic habit” and “there is no justification for such actions.”
The UK government has said they should be treated as prisoners of war under the laws set out in the Geneva conventions.
Ukraine has sentenced at least three Russian soldiers to prison for war crimes related to the invasion that began on February 24.
UK government sources suggested to the BBC that ministers were unwilling to negotiate directly with Moscow because it could risk feeding a false Russian narrative that men are mercenaries.