Moroccan Ibrahim Saadoun and two Brits could be secretly executed in eastern Ukraine if their appeal is denied by a Donetsk court, the leader of the separatist organization Denis Pushilin told state-run Russian TASS news agency.
“The execution of the sentences shall not be made public,” Pushilin was quoted saying on Wednsday. “The penitentiary service will be guided by its internal decisions.”
“We are awaiting a court session. If the court finds this punitive measure and the sentence to be appropriate, then their cases will be handed over to the corresponding agency to carry out the verdict,” he said.
He confirmed that “all the foreigners filed appeals.”
The leader of the separatist organization lifted earlier this week a previous decree that suspended the death penalty until 2025, weeks after handing down the death sentence to Saadoun, and Brits, Aiden Aslin, and Shaun Pinner.
Last month, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) issued precautionary measures in Saadoun’s favor, with a request to the Russian government to ensure that the death penalty is not applied and that adequate conditions of detention are provided to Saadoun as well as the provision of necessary medical assistance and medication.
Russia has said that it will not comply with the precautionary measures issued in favor of the three men, claiming that the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War does not apply to those concerned, as they are “mercenaries.”
Both Ukraine and the European Court of Human Rights have stated that all three belong to the Ukrainian armed forces.
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