Three British men accused of being mercenaries fighting with Ukrainian forces against Russia have pleaded not guilty in a Russian proxy court.

John Harding, Dylan Healy and Andrew Hill appeared with a Croatian and Swede in so-called Donetsk People's Republic, a breakaway region of Ukraine.

Mr Harding could be sentenced to death, Russian media reports.

The court, which is not internationally recognised, recently sentenced two British men to death.

The five men were led into court on Monday handcuffed and with black bags over their heads.

According to Russia's state-owned Tass news agency, three of the men - Mr Harding, Swede Mathias Gustafsson and Croatian Vjekoslav Preberg - could face the death penalty.

Their cases will continue to be heard in early October.

Family and friends of the Britons say they were not mercenaries and have called for them to be treated as prisoners of war in accordance with the Geneva Conventions.

The international treaties protect people who do not take part in fighting, like aid workers, and those who can no longer fight, like prisoners of war, against "acts of violence or intimidation".

Ex-serviceman Mr Harding, originally from Sunderland, had been fighting alongside Ukrainian forces since moving to the country in 2018. In July he appeared in a video appealing to Prime Minister Boris Johnson for help.

Mr Hill has been fighting with Ukraine's International Legion.

Mr Healy, from Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, had been volunteering in Ukraine as an aid worker with the Presidium Network when he was captured at a checkpoint in April, alongside Paul Urey who died in July while being held by Russian-backed separatists.

Dominik Byrne from the charity called for the men to be treated humanely.

"Dylan's family are very concerned and worried," he said.

"It's shocking to see them in what is a kangaroo court, which really that has no standing in international law at all.

"They're being treated totally against the Geneva Conventions and in a very hostile way, being transported without knowing where they are, so that's totally unacceptable."

Foreign governments have dismissed the trials as illegitimate, and will not negotiate with the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic.

The UK and Ukraine have condemned the sentences for violating international laws protecting prisoners of war.

The Foreign Office previously said it condemned the exploitation of civilian detainees for political purposes.

The same court in June sentenced Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin to death. The Britons were captured while fighting for Ukraine were accused of being mercenaries.

Their families insisted they were long-serving members of the Ukrainian military and not mercenaries.

Source:
courtesy of BBC NEWS

by Emma Vardy and Andre Rhoden-Paul

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