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Rabat – Several rights bodies and Western countries issued statements to condemn the death sentences handed out to Morocco’s Brahim Saadoun and two British citizens who are believed to have fought with the Ukrainian side in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
On Wednesday, a court organized by Russia’s proxy state in Donetsk sentenced the Moroccan and the two Britons to death. The court in Russia-occupied eastern Ukraine said that the three men pleaded guilty to terrorism-related charges.
The Council of Europe condemned the death sentences handed to the foreign fighters, describing it as “incompatible” with human rights. The Geneva convention typically protects prisoners of war following their surrender.
Council of Europe Secretary-General Marija Pejcinovia Buric said: “I firmly condemn the death penalty sentences issued today in the occupied Ukrainian city of Donetsk..”
She added that the death penalty is “incompatible with human dignity and constitutes inhuman and degrading treatment. It has no place on the European continent.”
Ukraine and the UK also condemned the sentences.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Oleh Nikolenco described the sentences as “invalid,” emphasizing that such trials “put the interests of propaganda above the law and morality.”
British Foreign Minister Liz Truss also denounced the sentences, describing them as a “sham judgment.”
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) joined the campaign expressing concerns regarding the sentences.
OHCHR Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said that “such trials against prisoners of war amount to a war crime.”
The Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not yet commented on the sentencing of Morocco’s Brahim Saadoun.
The Russian military captured Saadoun in April, accusing him of fighting with the Ukrainian side.
Prior to the conflict, Saadoun was pursuing his studies at the Faculty of Aerodynamic and Space Technologies at the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute (KPI).
Russia has defended its decision to sentence the three foreign fighters
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today that the two Britons and the Moroccan national sentenced to death had “committed crimes.”
While Russian authorities refer to the Moroccan and Britons as mercenaries, Saadoun’s father rejected the claims, saying that his son has Ukrainian citizenship.
Saadoun’s father also told Moroccan local media that the sentence against his son is not final, adding that his son will appear before the prosecutor again today.
