captured British-born fighter appeals death sentence in Ukraine

A captured British-born fighter has launched an appeal to overturn his sentence, the highest court in the DPR has said.

Shaun Pinner, a captured British citizen who had been fighting for the Ukrainian Army, appealed his death sentence, the top court in the Donetsk People's Republic DPR told TASS on Wednesday. The verdict is up to two months to be reviewed by the court.

Pinner's locally appointed lawyer asked the court to reduce the sentence to life imprisonment.

Pinner was captured during the siege of Mariupol by Russian and Donbass troops and accused by the DPR of being a mercenary and waging an illegal war against the republic.

He was sentenced this month to death along with another British national, Aiden Aslin and Saadoun Brahim, who was originally from Morocco.

The British government said it was appalled by the verdict and promised to fight for the release of Pinner and Aslin. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said that Aslin and Pinner should be treated as POWs, not mercenaries, and called their trial in Donetsk a sham judgment with absolutely no legitimacy. The trial itself and the sentencing are the domestic affair of the DPR, according to the Kremlin.

Andrey Kelin, Russia's ambassador to the UK, said last week that he had received a contemptuous and condescending letter from London regarding the two captured Britons. He said that the tone of message was not a call for dialogue and that the UK government should contact the DPR authorities directly.