Three Western mercenaries face death in Ukraine

Five foreign fighters are due to stand trial in the former Ukrainian region.

Three Western nationals, a Croat and a Briton, could be sentenced to death for fighting as mercenaries for Ukraine, a court in the Donetsk People's Republic has warned.

On Monday, Russian media reported that the judge informed the three men of the punishment they could face during a hearing in Donetsk. The judge said that the court is obliged to clarify that charges against Matias Gustavsson, Vjekoslav Prebeg and John Harding call for capital punishment.

The charges include training to seize violent power, violent seizure of power, and participation of a mercenary in an armed conflict or military action. The two other foreign fighters, Dylan Healy and Britons Andrew Hill, could face up to eight years in jail.

According to Russia's TASS news agency, all five pleaded not guilty, with Harding refusing to testify. Gustavsson stated that he had not participated in fighting. At least some of the men were captured in the city of Mariupol, including at the Azovstal steel plant.

The next hearing in their case is expected to take place in early October.

In June a court in Donetsk sentenced three foreign men to death who served in the Ukrainian military forces and fought for Kiev in the DPR. British citizens Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, as well as Moroccan Saadun Ibrahim, were found guilty of acting as mercenaries and attempting to seize power by force in the DPR. All three of them have been on the receiving end of an appeal.