European Court calls on Moscow to halt execution of Moroccan captured in Dontesk

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has called on Russia to prevent the execution of Moroccan Brahim Saadoun sentenced to death in a pro-Moscow separatist region of Ukraine for fighting with Ukrainian forces.

Russia “should ensure that the death penalty imposed on the applicant was not carried out,” the court said on Thursday in its emergency ruling issued following a petition filed this month.

The court also urged Moscow to ensure appropriate conditions of his detention and provide him with any necessary medical assistance and medication.

Saadoun is a Moroccan national with Ukrainian citizenship, as confirmed by his father. He was born in 2000 and moved to Ukraine in 2019 to study in Kyiv. His father said his son should be treated as a prisoner of war and not as a mercenary because he surrendered to Russian forces in Mariupol in April.

In a reaction to Saadoun’s arrest, sources at the Moroccan embassy in Kiev said the young man “is imprisoned by an entity that is neither recognized by Morocco nor by the UN.”

On June 9, he was sentenced to death along with Britons Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner for “mercenary activities”. According to press reports, all three men were serving in the Ukrainian military when they were captured by separatists while fighting against Russian forces.
Under the Geneva Conventions, prisoners of war are entitled to combatant immunity and should not be prosecuted for participation in hostilities.