The Criminal Executive Code (PEC) of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (“DPR”) entered into force on Friday, July 1, except for provisions for which the code sets different effective dates. The regulation on the death penalty, to which three foreign servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were previously sentenced, will come into force on January 1, 2025.
Chapter 26, Article 202 "Final and Transitional Provisions" states:
“The provisions of this Code on the execution of the death penalty shall enter into force on January 1, 2025.”
Article 197 itself describes the procedure for the execution of the death penalty, carried out “non-publicly by shooting”.
On June 9, the “DPR” sentenced to death three foreign mercenaries who took part in the war with Russia on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the territory of the so-called DPR and LPR. Two British men, Aiden Eslin and Sean Pinner, and Moroccan Saadoun Brahim were sentenced to death by firing squad. The Russian Foreign Ministry does not consider Britons Aiden Eslin and Sean Pinner prisoners of war, spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
Propagandist Margarita Simonyan claimed that the father of the Moroccan Saadoun Brahim contacted the Arabic edition of RT and asked that a letter of pardon for his son be sent to Russian President Vladimir Putin. A letter on his behalf says that his son "fell in love with Russia since childhood, so he learned Russian, but due to financial difficulties, he could not go to study in Russia." The text also says that in 2021, Ibrahim, due to a lack of life experience, “managed to be fraudulently recruited into military service in the Ukrainian army on a contract basis.” He also allegedly writes that he hopes for Putin’s mercy and wisdom, recalling that he himself is a father and “knows about his father’s feelings firsthand,” and also “believes in God, who always calls for peace, tolerance and the forgiveness of sins.” Before that, Saadoun's father stated that his son has Ukrainian citizenship.
Lawyer 21-year-old Moroccan Saadoun Dmitry Ershov told Lente.ru that he surrendered on March 12 in Volnovakha. According to him, Saadoun moved to Ukraine in 2019, and in 2021 signed a three-year contract with the Armed Forces of Ukraine and, on the advice of Eslin, ended up in the 36th Separate Marine Brigade. On April 27, Kommersant wrote about lawyers Pinner and Saadoun. The publication presented them as "the first and so far the only Russian lawyers who work in the DPR and LPR." Accordingto Mediazona , earlier references to their advocacy activities could not be found.
