A Russian military court has scheduled the trial for May 31 of five European citizens accused of having fought as mercenaries in Mariupol (east) with the Azov Battalion, an ultra-nationalist organization collaborating with the Ukrainian armed forces.
According to the Russian state news agency Interfax, the military court of Rostov-on-Don will try, among others, the Swede Matias Gustavsson, the Croat Vekoslav Prebeg and the British John Harging, Dialan Healy and Andrew Hill under Article 205 of the Russian penal code.
The alleged European mercenaries, who face the death penalty, were captured during the siege of the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol, the scene of Ukrainian resistance during the Russian offensive in May 2022.
Located in the extreme southeast of Ukraine, on the Sea of Azov, the city of Mariupol was a refuge for Ukrainian troops during the siege, until the Russian army took control of the city and its steel mill.
On 9 June 2022, a court of the self-declared People’s Republic of Donetsk sentenced to death British citizens Sean Pinner and Aiden Aslin, as well as Moroccan Brahim Saadoun, accused of allegedly participating as mercenaries, under orders from Kiev, in the war with Russia.
The Russian military offensive on Ukrainian territory, launched on February 24 last year, plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
Source: DN
