Two British citizens and a Moroccan have been sentenced to death by Russians in eastern Ukraine for fighting on Ukraine’s side.
A court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic found the three men guilty of being mercenaries and committing acts aimed at “overthrowing the constitutional order of the Republic”.
The invaders had claimed that as “mercenaries” they are not entitled to the usual protections afforded prisoners of war.
The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine has launched a pre-trial investigation over the mentioned death sentence.
This sad event caused a wave of reaction in the West. The Foreign Ministers of Britain and Ukraine have already reacted to the resonant event, and now the United States has joined them. In particular, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed his opinion on the accusation of two Britons and one Moroccan mercenary.
“We are gravely concerned by reports of a sham “trial” and its judgements against lawful combatants serving in Ukraine’s Armed Forces. We call on Russia and its proxies to respect international humanitarian law, including the rights and protections afforded prisoners of war,” said the US Secretary of State.
One British member of Parliament called the proceedings a “Soviet-era-style show trial.”
See also: The US has launched a new project to gather evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine
