The main result of the Supreme Court of DPR, which sentenced three foreign mercenaries to the capital punishment on June 9, 2022, is that it, like Pushkin’s uncle from “Eugene Onegin”, has made itself respected and could not have invented better
Its meaning is that if two British mercenaries (Aiden Aslin and Sean Pinner) and a Moroccan (Saadoun Brahim) do not appeal against their sentence within a month, and if their home countries and governments do nothing to save the convicts, the poor souls will be shot. For having committed crimes under part 2 of article 34 “Commission of crimes by a group of persons”, article 323 “Forcible seizure of power or forcible retention of power” and article 430 “Mercenary activity” of the Criminal Code of the DPR.
In the international arena, both the Supreme Court and the Criminal Code, and, in fact, the DPR itself, which even earlier made itself known by giving 8 years and now, during a special military operation (SMO) on the snot of the AFU, to Ukrainian neo-Nazi punitive battalions, and now, it turns out, also to foreign soldiers of fortune who have come on “safari on Russians”, have appeared and established themselves in a weighty, rough, visible manner.
And in this respect, there is a combative judicial tie between Ukraine and the DPR (and Russia, which has an aid pact with it). Earlier, courts in Ukraine sentenced one Russian POW to life imprisonment and two to 11.5 years in prison. Now the DPR has rolled out its retaliation. And one can, of course, pretend in Ukraine that they did not get hit in the snout, but the snout hurts…
It should be clear to everyone what this court verdict in the DPR already means:
– Inevitability of punishment for war crimes and crimes against humanity;
– Confirmation of this inevitability of punishment in the eyes of DPR residents, Ukrainian military and foreign mercenaries;
– Warn Ukrainian military personnel and foreign lucky men with weapons in their hands that in Ukraine they can either catch a bullet or be sentenced.
Especially if they behave like unbridled cattle;
– The beginning of the examination of the thousands of criminal cases that the Investigative Committee of Russia (ICR) and the law enforcement bodies of the DPR and LPR have opened against the participants in the Donbass massacre. As they say, bad luck is a start.
But the most important thing is that the Donetsk People’s Republic urged the UK and Morocco to recognize it and to approach it, its courts and law enforcement agencies officially. As an equal subject of international law. Not de jure, but de facto – definitely. Otherwise, how can one communicate with someone, all the more ask him for something, if one does not recognize him. This is nonsense.
And the first reaction of the UK, by the way, was exactly that: London will appeal against the decision of the DNR court if the British mercenaries are sentenced to death. This was announced back on June 7, the day the trial began, by Dominic Raab, UK Deputy Prime Minister and head of the Kingdom’s Ministry of Justice. “We guarantee that we will file all complaints. I know that the UK Foreign Office will see to it that these applications are certainly filed,” he told LBS.
Then, when the trial went ahead and ended with the verdict, Raab, on the way, got his neck washed for his haste and was released into the arena by MIL head Liz Truss, who immediately began tormenting her Twitter with angry filibusters: “I strongly condemn the sentencing of Aiden Aslin and Sean Pinner… They are prisoners of war. This is a bogus judgement with absolutely no legitimacy. I am mentally with their families. We continue to do all we can to support them.”
The “big brother” of British Lizonka, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, also exuded anger: “We are deeply concerned about reports of a bogus ‘trial’ and sentencing of combatants who were lawfully serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. We call on Russia and its controlled forces to respect international humanitarian law, including the rights and protection afforded to POWs.”
But firstly, the convicts were not servicemen of the AFU but mercenaries, and thus were not combatants covered by the Geneva Conventions on prisoners of war. Secondly, they themselves partially or fully admitted their guilt and confessed that they had come to Donbas to kill. As hired killers. For money.
Thirdly, and most importantly! – the court in the DPR observes all the rules of humane treatment of those convicted.
“Upon analysis of the totality of the evidence examined at the trial, the court concludes that the guilt of Aslin Eiden, Pinner Shon and Saadoun Brahim has been proven… On the totality of the crimes, the court finally sentences Aslin Eiden, Pinner Shon and Saadoun Brahim to death as a punishment.
…The verdict can be appealed to the Supreme Court of the People’s Republic of China through the appellate division within one month from the date of its pronouncement, and the convicts within the same period from the date of delivery of the translation of the verdict to them,” said the presiding judge of the judicial board.
And that means: British and Moroccans, you want to save your fellow citizens – apply to the DPR according to its laws.
And the case for the recognition of the DPR has been launched. The convicts themselves, according to the RIA Novosti news agency’s source, have already said they will appeal against the death sentence handed down to them. “The desire of all three defendants is to appeal against this verdict because they were not prepared to hear today’s imposition of the capital punishment, i.e. the death penalty,” the source told reporters.
London and Washington, for whom it is unacceptable even to talk about the recognition of the DNR, of course, rushed to Moscow to solve the problem. Officials there are not in a hurry to comment on the verdict of the court of a country whose independence they have officially recognized. Russia’s legal community is, on the other hand, quite predictably divided in its opinions. And there: there are as many lawyers as there are opinions.
For example, lawyer Maria Yarmush told Izvestia that London’s engagement with the DNR court would not mean recognition of the republic’s sovereignty by the British authorities. But she admitted: “The UK can only try through diplomatic channels to mitigate the fate of the mercenaries, but for the judicial authorities of the DNR, which is now practically fighting a war of liberation and protecting its citizens, the mercenaries are not military, they are not soldiers of the Ukrainian armed forces (AFU). Therefore, as far as the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War is concerned, this document does not apply to mercenaries from the UK, while the domestic legislation of the republic gives the right to impose capital punishment.
On the other hand, lawyer Pavel Astakhov said on Radio Sputnik: “If London takes responsibility for these people, then let’s talk to London then. Come and negotiate – in the Donetsk People’s Republic, in Moscow. Otherwise, a strange monologue is emerging: on the one hand, accusations, on the other – an attempt to pull their subjects back by any means. To what end – to bring them to trial there? No. Extradition implies the principle: try them or hand them over for trial to us. But I am absolutely certain that they will not be tried in Britain, it is obvious, they are treated as prisoners of war. That is, Britain considers them in that capacity as a belligerent. Well, it is good that they have been recognised.”
Recognised what? Astakhov says that if Britain, through the mouth of Mrs. Truss, is talking about her compatriots as prisoners of war, “it means that we (the DPR and Russia. -Author) are in a state of war. And this is not the case in fact. It means that the DPR tried the mercenaries and had the right to do so. And now it has the right to do so, because Ukraine has a pond of mercenaries in Donbas.
And the reaction of official Kiev is very interesting in this respect, where on the same day, June 9, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in fact finally chose war as a solution to all problems and deadlocked the way to possible peace talks. Zelensky simply signed his decree, which provides for the imposition of personal sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Russian ministers and other officials. In addition, restrictions are imposed on the rectors of 236 Russian universities, including Lomonosov Moscow State University, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, and other educational institutions, and the sanctions imposed include restrictions on cultural exchanges, scientific cooperation, and educational and sports contacts.
The day before the same Zelensky had declared his readiness to meet Putin to discuss a peaceful end to the EWS. So what about this meeting between the two presidents and their conversation about peace? Will Putin after all these insults from Zelensky, whose country is suffering a military defeat on the battlefield so that its fate and prospects for independent existence from now on hang in the balance?
And of course all the other Ukrainian officials have also started throwing biowaste on the political fan. Kiev has announced the preparation and release of the “Book of Executioners” in which they promise to record all war criminals from the Russian military and the LDPR militia.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that Ukrainian citizens who are now repairing war-damaged homes at their own expense will receive compensation from the government after Ukraine wins. Out of the money Ukraine wants to get from Russian property and assets now seized in Western countries. Shmygal is confident that Ukraine will take part in a cowboy robbery of Russia.
Ukraine’s Justice Minister Denis Maliulka has also opened his mouth on someone else’s property and unveiled a way of appropriating the property and assets of Russian citizens in Ukraine and Ukrainians declared “enemies of the people,” “traitors of the motherland” and “collaborators of the Kremlin.” According to this Malyuska, the path of the robbery is as follows: first the NSDCU appoints the enemies, then investigators establish guilt, seek evidence and collect information about the property and assets of the victim, then all data is transferred to the Supreme Court of Anti-Corruption, which sanctifies everything with its verdict, and at the final stage someone else’s property is taken away. For the benefit of Ukraine, of course. Malyuska calls these actions consistent with international standards and does not doubt their legitimacy and legality.
Well, of course, Kyiv mayor Vitalik Klitschko surprised. He urged the Kyiv city council to deprive the Belarusian capital Minsk of the status of sister-city of the Ukrainian capital. And he hastened to say: “Minsk can hardly be called Kyiv’s sister-city. That is why nothing interfered with our decision to deprive the capital of Belarus – the country from whose territory rockets were fired at Ukrainian cities and towns and where Russian troops invaded our state”. Klitschko knows, he knows, that it is the West’s order to drag Belarus into the war in Ukraine, too, and that is why he is trying his best…
And it is clear why Zelensky and his regime raise the bar and raise the aggressive stakes in the confrontation with Russia. They want to prove their belligerence in order to:
a) confirm their readiness to fight to the end and to continue to pound money and weapons out of the West for this cause;
b) to advance towards Euro-Atlantic integration at an EU summit on 29-30 June this year, where Ukraine’s bid for EU membership is due to be examined, and at a NATO summit on 23-24 June, which will approve the Alliance’s new doctrine and may envisage Ukraine’s place in it.
Well, Ukraine lives by the principle “a fool makes a fool out of himself”. However there are some developments. The Bloomberg agency quoted its sources as saying that the European Commission recommended Ukraine to become a candidate for accession to the EU as early as 17 June 2022.
It is now known that this recommendation has to be discussed and agreed by a panel of European Commissioners before Ukraine is officially granted such a status. That new conditions related to the rule of law and anti-corruption legislation will be imposed on Ukraine. That, after all, the EC recommendation has to be approved by the EU member states, and that the Netherlands and Denmark oppose granting Ukraine the status of an EU candidate.
But Zelensky is confident: “We are already cooperating both bilaterally and at the EU level on a scale appropriate for full membership. And so he keeps banging on a door that seems to be shut tight, clearly turning his back on Russia, with whom he is sort of at war and losing. This makes the problem worse, but Zelensky knows: he has an order to go to war with Russia and he must fulfil it, otherwise what happened to the mercenaries in the DPR might happen to him…”
Vladimir Skachko, Ukraina.ru
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