Shaun Pinner is a former soldier of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

who joined the

Ukrainian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are the Military, military forces of Ukraine. All military and security forces, including the Armed Forces, are under the command of the president of Ukraine and subject to oversight by a permanent Verkhovna Rad ...

as a contracted fighter in 2018 and fought during the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. During the

siege of Mariupol The siege of Mariupol began on 24 February 2022 and lasted until 20 May, as part of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It saw fighting between the Russian Armed Forces (alongside the Donetsk People's Republic People's Militia) and the Ukrainian ...

, he was captured and sentenced to death in a

show trial A show trial is a public trial in which the guilt (law), guilt or innocence of the defendant has already been determined. The purpose of holding a show trial is to present both accusation and verdict to the public, serving as an example and a d ...

by the Supreme Court of the self-proclaimed statelet

Donetsk People's Republic The Donetsk People's Republic (DPR; , ) is Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, occupied territory in Ukraine that the Russian Federation has claimed to annex and declared as a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia, comprising parts o ...

(DPR), but was freed in September 2022 in a

prisoner exchange A prisoner exchange or prisoner swap is a deal between opposing sides in a conflict to release prisoners: prisoner of war, prisoners of war, spy, spies, hostages, etc. Sometimes, cadaver, dead bodies are involved in an exchange. Geneva Conven ...

. In December 2022 he was awarded the state ‘Order of Courage, 3rd Degree’ in a decree by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for “selfless acts in the defence and sovereignty of Ukraine”.

Biography

Being a Ukrainian Marine, Pinner was legally a protected person under the

Geneva Conventions upright=1.15, The original document in single pages, 1864 The Geneva Conventions are international humanitarian laws consisting of four treaties and three additional protocols that establish international legal standards for humanitarian t ...

as a

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

. However, Russian state media has portrayed him as a

mercenary A mercenary is a private individual who joins an armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rather t ...

. Another British citizen,

Aiden Aslin Aiden Daniel John Mark Aslin (; born 7 January 1994) is a British citizen who was captured by Russian forces in April 2022 while fighting as a Ukrainian Marine in Mariupol. He was sentenced to death on 9 June by authorities of the Russian-backe ...

and the Moroccan Saadoun Brahim, received identical verdicts in the same trial. British Foreign Secretary

Liz Truss Mary Elizabeth Truss (born 26 July 1975) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from September to October 2022. On her fiftieth da ...

tweeted that: "The judgement against them is an egregious breach of the Geneva convention." The defence attorney did not even ask for an explanation as to why the existing arguments against mercenary status were not been taken into consideration, simply saying instead that "the guilt of my client has been fully established". Pinner was described by his family as a well-respected soldier within the British Army, where he served in the

Royal Anglian Regiment The Royal Anglian Regiment is an infantry regiment of the British Army. It consists of two Regular battalions and one Army Reserve (United Kingdom), Reserve battalion. The modern regiment was formed in 1964, making it the oldest of the line regi ...

. He spent nine years in this regiment with a spotless record. He also volunteered to fight against

ISIS Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

in the Middle East and served with the

United Nations mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina The United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH) was a United Nations peacekeeping mission formed under the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1035 on 21 December 1995. It completed its mandate on 31 December 2002, when it w ...

. After retirement, Pinner was employed for some time as a waste manager in

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

, working for about 16 hours a day. Pinner moved to Ukraine with his Ukrainian wife before joining the nation's armed forces in 2018. Being an experienced soldier, Pinner was made a squad commander in Ukraine. At the time of his capture, he was due to complete his three-year military contract later in 2022 and was hoping for a humanitarian role. Pinner considers Ukraine to be his adopted country over the last four years, calling

Mariupol Mariupol is a city in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is situated on the northern coast (Pryazovia) of the Sea of Azov, at the mouth of the Kalmius, Kalmius River. Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was the tenth-largest city in the coun ...

his home city. On 29 June 2022, Pinner appealed against his death sentence, requesting for it to be changed to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...

. The appeal was to be reviewed within a two-week period; if rejected, Pinner would, according to his lawyer, request to be

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...

ed by the head of the DPR. A day later the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

told Russia to ensure that the death penalty was not carried out on Pinner and fellow prisoner Aiden Aslin. Russia, however, said it would no longer comply with the ECHR's prescriptions, although Russia only formally withdrew from the court in September 2022. Pinner was released in a prisoner exchange in September 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pinner, Shaun Living people 1974 births Ukrainian military personnel of the Russian invasion of Ukraine Prisoners of war held by Russia Siege of Mariupol British prisoners sentenced to death Military personnel from Bedfordshire People from Watford Royal Anglian Regiment soldiers English expatriates in Ukraine Pro-Ukraine foreign volunteers in the Russian invasion of Ukraine 21st-century British Army personnel 20th-century British Army personnel

Biography

See also

References