Friends of Moroccan sentenced to death by pro-Moscow separatists call on UK to help him
A friend of Moroccan national Brahim Saadoun who was sentenced to death after being captured in Ukraine fighting against Russian forces called on the UK government to save him.
Zina Kotenko, a Ukrainian refugee living in the UK described her friend Saadoun, 21, as a "kind, open-minded, and joyful person".
In an interview with Sky News on Sunday, she called on the British government to "take care of the people who take care of democracy." "Please save him," she said.
Saadoun, along with Britons Aiden Aslin, 28, and Shaun Pinner, 48, was taken prisoner in Ukraine where they were fighting for Kyiv and sentenced to death on Thursday for "mercenary activities and terrorism" by the judiciary of the pro-Russian authorities in Donetsk.
Another friend of the Moroccan soldier, Dmytro Khrabstov, 20, said Brahim, known to his friends in Ukraine as Brian, had joined the Ukrainian army last summer and told them he wanted to "die a hero".
"He is a bright and enthusiastic guy, dreaming about the technology of the future and how he could change things," Khrabstov said.
He called his death sentence "inhumane".
The father of the young Moroccan, Tader Saadoun, told the local news website Madar21 on Thursday that his son "is not a mercenary".
In April, he had accused the Ukrainian authorities of "recruiting foreign students to exploit them in the war".
The head of British diplomacy Liz Truss on Thursday called the verdict against the three men "a sham trial without legitimacy".
"We reiterate that prisoners of war should not be exploited for political reasons," said a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who pointed out that under the Geneva Conventions prisoners of war are entitled to combatant immunity.
Aslin's family had explained in late
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