The first criminal case against a whole group of foreigners who fought for Ukraine will be considered by a military court in Rostov-on-Don. Earlier, hearings on it were held in the DPR, the authorities of which did not rule out that the death penalty would be imposed on those accused of mercenarism, but in the end the case was returned to the TFR, and on charges brought already under the Criminal Code of Russia, they were transferred to the court, whose jurisdiction includes cases on war crimes in the new Russian territories.
The Southern District Military Court, located in Rostov-on-Don, received a criminal case against British citizens John Harding, Andrew Hill, Dylan Healy, Swede Mathias Gustavsson and Croat Vekoslav Pribegu, who are charged with committing crimes under Art. 278 and 359 (forcible seizure of power or retention of it, as well as the participation of a mercenary in an armed conflict or complicity in this) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. If the first article provides for up to 20 years in prison, then the second – up to 15 years.
The case was entrusted to the former deputy chairman of the Rostov Garrison Military Court, Denis Galkin, who about three years ago was promoted to the district court. The judge has not yet made a decision on the materials distributed to him, and it is already obvious that it will not be so easy for him to combine consideration of two high-profile cases at once. Since February, he has been conducting a judicial investigation into the case of members of the so-called military wing of the vird of followers of Batal-Khadzhi Belkhoroev (Batalkhadzhins), recognized as a terrorist organization and banned in Russia. They are accused of a series of attacks on the head of the center for combating extremism of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ingushetia, Ibragim Eldzharkiev, which ended in the murder of him along with his brother.
Most of those accused of mercenarism were taken prisoner last spring in Mariupol.
The most experienced of them was John Harding, who took part in the 1982 conflict with Argentina over the Falkland Islands and other hostilities, and two years before the capture he signed a contract with the banned in Russia and recognized as a terrorist unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine “Azov”. In it, Andrew Hill, who had experience in the war in Afghanistan, as well as Private Gustavsson, were listed as instructors. None of them admitted their guilt, noting that Ukrainian laws allow foreigners to serve in the armed forces under a contract. At the same time, the prisoners, and later the defendants, claimed that they did not take direct part in the hostilities with the Russian army.
The case against the five foreigners was the second one, which was transferred to the Supreme Court of the DPR in August last year. First, in June last year, the same court sentenced British citizens Sean Pinner and Aiden Aslin, as well as Moroccan Brahim Saadoun, who were also accused of mercenarism and other crimes under the Criminal Code of the Donetsk Republic, to death. However, it never came to the execution of the court decision – they, among other defendants, were exchanged with the mediation of the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, for captured Russians and politicians detained in Ukraine, including Viktor Medvedchuk. Pinner and Aslin, according to some reports, have already returned to fight in Ukraine.
Commenting on the trial of the second group of mercenaries to the Russia 1 TV channel, the head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, did not rule out that they could also be given capital punishment, but as a result, the proceedings were suspended and the case returned for additional investigation. During it, the articles of the DPR code were replaced with the Russian Criminal Code, which made the accusation somewhat milder, and it was decided to conduct proceedings against the alleged mercenaries in a Russian military court.