The UN is concerned about the death sentences handed down to two Britons and a Moroccan who fought in Ukraine and was captured by Russian forces.
– Such trials against prisoners of war constitute a war crime, says Ravina Shamdasani, head of the UN human rights body OHCHR.
The convicted men participated in the Ukrainian defense of the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol.
“The UN human rights body is concerned about the so-called Supreme Court of the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk, which sentenced three soldiers to death,” spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said during a press conference in Geneva.
– Since 2015, we have observed that the so-called legal system in these self-proclaimed republics has not followed significant guarantees of a fair trial, such as public hearings, independence, impartiality in the court and the right not to be forced to testify. Such trials against prisoners of war constitute a war crime, Shamdasani continues.
The separatist court claims that the British are mercenaries who have committed terrorism.
According to the families of the British men, they have not been mercenaries or volunteers without soldiers in the Ukrainian army for a long time.
The two British men moved to Ukraine in 2018, writes BBC. One of them is engaged to a Ukrainian woman and is both a British and a Ukrainian citizen. The other is married to a Ukrainian, his family tells the BBC.
Both the British government and the Ukrainian public prosecutor Iryna Venediktova have said that the death sentences violate the Geneva Convention.