A British care worker sentenced to death for fighting in Ukraine has launched a desperate appeal against his execution.
Aiden Aslin, 28, was captured in the besieged city of Mariupol while defending Ukraine.
After joining the Ukrainian marines in 2018, he had been fighting with his unit when they were forced to surrender to the Russians after running out of food and ammunition.
Mr Aslin was handed the death penalty for "mercenary activities" at a court in the Russian-backed breakaway Donetsk People's Republic in eastern Ukraine
But he argues he was not a mercenary but a member of Ukraine’s armed forces.
The Brit, from Newark in Nottinghamshire, shared a picture of himself taking his oath to serve in the Ukrainian army on social media.
A lawyer for fellow British fighter Shaun Pinner, 48, Yulia Tserkovnikova, launched his appeal last week.
Both men were sentenced to the death penalty, being shot by a firing squad, in an verdict last month after a rushed trial when key witnesses did not appear.
Few observers expect them to succeed at what is seen as a new stage of a show trial, leaving them only to plead for a pardon to the pro-Putin ruler of the DPR, Denis Pushilin.
But Pushilin has already said he sees no grounds to grant a pardon.
Their best hope is that a prisoner exchange leads to them being swapped with Russian soldiers captured in Ukraine.
"A cessation appeal against the verdict was filed today," said Pavel Kosovan who represented Mr Aslin on Monday.
The Britons were sentenced to death along with Moroccan Brahim Saadoun for "mercenary activities" by fighting for Ukraine.
Mr Aslin’s lawyer said the appeal concerned only some of the charges - those carrying the death penalty - such as his alleged effort to bring about "a seizure of power by force" in the DPR.
The purpose of the appeal was to "avoid execution”.
Two more British captives in the hands of the DPR have been indicted on charges that could lead to the death penalty.
Andrew Hill, 35, and Dylan Healy, 22, face an upcoming trial.
Hill, a father of four from Plymouth, was allegedly a “mercenary” fighting for the Ukrainians.
Healy, from Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, was previously described as a civilian volunteer seeking to evacuate people from war-ravaged Ukraine.
