Lavrov considers the death sentence of the British Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, and the Moroccan Brahim Saadoun to be in accordance with the legislation of the pro-Russian republic. They have one month to appeal the ruling.
The Russian Foreign Minister, Seguéi Lavrov, responded this Friday to the wave of international outrage over the death sentence imposed by a supposed court of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) against three foreign brigade members, the British Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner , and the Moroccan Brahim Saadoun. Lavrov has called for “not interfering” in the decision of a judicial body that kyiv considers completely subservient to the Donetsk separatist leadership, a territorial entity that, except for Russia, practically no one in the rest of the world has recognized.
The Russian foreign minister told the press that “at the moment, all the processes are based on the DNR legislation, since the crimes in question were committed in that territory. Everything else is a matter of speculation.” The three brigade members were accused of committing “crimes” against the civilian population of Donetsk and on Thursday they were sentenced to death, which they may appeal within a maximum period of one month.
The spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, María Zajárova, for her part, assured through a statement that “contrary to the statements of British officials, the citizens mentioned are not prisoners of war, but mercenaries. The mercenaries sent by the West to help the nationalist regime in kyiv are not combatants under international humanitarian law and are not entitled to prisoner of war status.”
In his words, the inmates were “accused of participating in hostilities on the side of Ukraine as mercenaries and sentenced to death for a combination of crimes.” Zakharova also noted that “for our part, we repeatedly informed the British Embassy in Moscow that all questions about the captured British should be addressed to the authorities” in Donetsk and Lugansk. “As far as we know, London did not address any initiative in this regard, even despite requests from the relatives of the mercenaries to the British authorities,” the Russian diplomatic spokeswoman added.
The Geneva Convention
Pinner, Aslin and Saadoun surrendered separately in Mariupol in mid-April to rebel forces in Donetsk and were sentenced to death on Thursday. That same day, the British authorities expressed their rejection of the judicial decision. “Of course, we are deeply concerned about this. We constantly say that prisoners of war should not be used for political purposes,” said the official representative of the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. “According to the Geneva Convention, prisoners of war are entitled to immunity, they should not be tried for participating in combat actions,” the statement said.
Johnson himself said Friday he was “dismayed,” according to Downing Street. “It is clear that they served in the Ukrainian armed forces and are prisoners of war,” the spokesman repeated. The British Foreign Minister, Liz Truss, described the verdict the day before as a “mock trial without legitimacy.” This Friday he telephoned his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmitro Kuleba, to study the steps to be taken from now on.
The UN has also reacted to the death sentences of the brigadistas. The spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ravina Shamdasani, based in Geneva, declared that “since 2015, we have observed that the so-called judicial system of these self-proclaimed republics (Donetsk and Luhansk) does not comply with the essential guarantees of a fair process. In her view, “these POW trials constitute yet another war crime.” It so happens that the three brigade members sentenced to death enlisted in the Ukrainian Army before the start of the Russian invasion.
Those captured in Azovstal
The same fate could befall the members of the Azov battalion, which surrendered after three months defending the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol. On Wednesday, the Russian agency TASS assured “more than 1,000 people from the Azovstal steel plant have been transferred to Russia. Law enforcement is working to clarify the facts.”
The same source maintained that “more than a hundred Ukrainian fighters, including foreign mercenaries who surrendered in Mariupol, could be found in Moscow.” But the Donetsk separatist leaders have already warned that some of the Azovstal prisoners will undoubtedly be sentenced to death. However, the evacuation of the steel plant was agreed with the mediation of the UN and the Red Cross and it was clear that all of them will be exchanged for imprisoned Russian soldiers or separatist rebels, in no case tried and even less executed.
The Pope seeks how to reactivate cereal exports
MINOR DARIO | Rome
In the second audience they have held since she was elected president of the European Commission (EC) in 2019, Ursula Von der Leyen was received this Friday by Pope Francis at the Vatican Apostolic Palace. After participating the previous day in a conference on the importance of urbanism in the fight against climate change convened by an organization of the Holy See, Von der Leyen also spoke with the Pontiff about sustainable architecture, although the most burning topic of the conversation was the war in Ukraine. In particular, both discussed the diplomatic efforts being made by both the European Union and the Vatican to try to unblock Ukrainian grain exports by sea.
“Truly happy to meet His Holiness again in Rome,” Von der Leyen wrote on her social media profile, accompanying the message with a photograph in which she is seen shaking hands with Jorge Mario Bergoglio sitting in a chair. wheel. “We support those who suffer from the destruction of Ukraine. The war must end, restoring peace to Europe », she insisted.
After her conversation with the Bishop of Rome, the President of the EC met with the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States of the Holy See. She and both of them equally faced the war situation in Eastern Europe and its humanitarian consequences and in the international food market.
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