Five Europeans go on trial in separatist-controlled Ukraine
The Associated Press
Five European citizens captured in eastern Ukraine have gone on trial in a court administered by Kremlin-backed separatists in the city of Donetsk. Russian media say the five included Swede Matthias Gustafsson, Croat Vjekoslav Prebeg, and Britons John Harding, Andrew Hill and Dylan Healy. They say all pleaded not guilty to charges of mercenarism and “undergoing training to seize power by force.” They could face the death penalty under the laws of the self-proclaimed, unrecognized Donetsk People’s Republic. Their next court hearing is scheduled for October. In June, a court in the self-proclaimed republic sentenced two Britons and a Moroccan to death for being mercenaries. All three have appealed.