Two Britons imprisoned in separatist Ukraine will face charges of “mercenary activities” and executed after being captured by pro-Russian forces.
22-year-old Cambridgeshire aid worker Dylan Healy was accused of being a mercenary after being detained at a checkpoint in Zaporizhzhya, Russian state media have reported.
Military volunteer Andrew Hill, 35, was detained on suspicion of carrying out “mercenary activities,” officials in the Moscow-backed Donetsk People’s Republic added.
Hill was featured in a video on Russian state television as early as April, where he spoke with a strong Plymouth accent and gave his name.
Mr Healy was originally accused of being a spy. Local media reported that both men refused to cooperate with investigators.
The State Department has condemned the latest development and said it is supporting the families of the imprisoned men.
It comes just months after Aiden Aslin and Sean Pinner, two Britons who fought in the ranks of Ukraine before being captured in Mariupol in April, are executed by firing squad after being convicted as ‘foreign mercenaries’.
22-year-old Cambridgeshire aid worker Dylan Healy was accused of being a mercenary after being detained at a checkpoint in Zaporizhzhya, Russian state media have reported.
Military volunteer Andrew Hill (pictured) was also detained on suspicion of carrying out “mercenary activities,” officials in the Moscow-backed Donetsk People’s Republic said.
British prisoners of war Aiden Aslin (left) and Shaun Pinner (center) were sentenced to death by the Donetsk court on 9 June
British detainee Andrew Hill, 35, a father of four from Plymouth, has also been warned to face the death penalty when his sentence is handed down.
A pro-Kremlin website said the latest hostages would face the same mercenary charges as Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, two British military volunteers captured in Mariupol and sentenced to death in Donetsk.
Mr Aslin, 28, originally from Newark, Nottinghamshire, and Mr Pinner, 48, from Bedfordshire, moved to Ukraine in 2018 after marrying Indigenous women and applying to serve in the Marines.
Aslin, a former health care provider who fought against ISIS in Syria, and Pinner, a British Army veteran, were serving on the front lines in Donbas when Putin ordered his troops to invade on February 24.
They surrendered two months later in the town of Mariupol after their units ran out of ammunition and were surrounded.
Mr Aslin (left) and Mr Pinner (right) both lived in Ukraine before the invasion and the UK government has insisted that as legitimate members of the Ukrainian armed forces they should be treated as belligerent under the Geneva Convention
The European Court of Human Rights has now ruled that Russia has a responsibility to ensure that the two Britons (left and right) are not executed
Aslin, of Nottinghamshire, and Pinner, of Bedfordshire, were sentenced to death on June 9 along with Moroccan Sadun Brahim, 21, after all three surrendered along with Ukrainian troops to pro-Putin fighters in Mariupol.
Because they fought in the regular Ukrainian army, both men are considered prisoners of war under international law – meaning they are exempt from prosecution for violence committed in combat.
However, the leaders of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic – a Russian-backed sham state in eastern Ukraine – claim they are foreign mercenaries and have persecuted them as war criminals.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss called the sentences “a sham sentence without any legitimacy”, but the government has so far refused to intervene directly to avoid the sentence.
Truss has argued that a British government intervention could legitimize pro-Russian claims that Aslin and Pinner are “mercenaries,” despite being paid members of the Ukrainian military with Ukrainian women.
A former caregiver, Mr Aslin (pictured left) moved to Ukraine after falling for his now-wife Diane (pictured right), who is originally from the town of Mykolaiv – about 460 miles west of Mariupol, along the coast. She reportedly moved to the UK to be with his family
Shaun Pinner, pictured with wife Larysa, is now being executed by firing squad after surrendering to Russian troops in Ukraine
An FCDO spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘We condemn the exploitation of prisoners of war and civilians for political purposes and have raised this with Russia. We are in constant contact with the government of Ukraine regarding their affairs and fully support Ukraine in its efforts to get them released.”
Commenting on reports about Mr Healy and Mr Hill, Kristyan Benedict, Amnesty International UK’s crisis response manager said: “As with Aiden Aslin, Shaun Pinner and Saaudun Brahim, this is a mock trial designed to put diplomatic pressure on the UK, not At least, as it comes shortly after Britain announced a large shipment of weapons for Ukraine.
“According to the Geneva Conventions, captured combatants and other protected persons must be treated humanely at all times.
“By exploiting their capture of Dylan Healy and Andrew Hill in this way, Russia and its proxies in the Donetsk People’s Republic are already adding to a vast catalog of war crimes they are committing in this war.
“The chances of Healy and Hill getting a fair trial, either in the Donetsk People’s Republic or in Russia itself, are negligible.
“Unless the authorities provide clear evidence that Healy and Hill are involved in war crimes, this mock trial must be stopped immediately.”
Judges of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg issued an edict against Moscow on Thursday, saying that Putin must ensure that the death penalty [is] not performed’ and work to ensure that the men are kept in humane conditions and receive medical care.
But Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, said Russia is no longer complying with the court’s rulings and the couple’s fate will be decided by Ukrainian rebel groups.
The Telegraph reported that Ukrainian officials hope to exchange Aslin and Pinner for Russian prisoners of war to halt their deaths.
The Kremlin, which has had a moratorium on the death penalty since 1996, could influence the decision of the Donetsk People’s Republic.
Former US servicemen Alexander Drueke and Andy Huynh are also held in custody by the Donetsk People’s Republic after being captured near Kharkiv last month.