Brits captured in Ukraine before release to be on trial in Russia
Three Brits captured in Ukraine and held as POWs before being released in a prisoner swap will be put on trial in absentia in Russia
- John Harding, Dylan Healy and Andrew Hill were captured in Mariupol last year
- They are accused of fighting in Azov regime, which battled Russian forces
Three Brits who were captured in Ukraine and held as POWs before being released in a prisoner swap will be put on trial in absentia in Russia.
John Harding, Cambridgeshire aid worker Dylan Healy and military volunteer Andrew Hill were captured in Mariupol last year.
Prosecutors in the self-proclaimed DPR allege they were members of the Azoc battalion, which battled Russian forces during the siege of the southern port city of Mariupol and has been designated a terrorist organisation by Russia.
The trial will begin on May 31 on terror-linked and other charges. Mr Harding, Mr Healy and Mr Hill are believed to face trial in absentia.
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said the three British men, a Swedish national and a Croatian man have been accused of fighting alongside Ukrainian forces including the Azov regiment.
Home at last: John Harding with his sister Denise in September last year. While imprisoned, his legs ‘wasted away’ as his weight plummeted to just eight stone. He also suffered neurological damage to his spine and hands
In addition to John Harding, Cambridgeshire aid worker Dylan Healy and military volunteer Andrew Hill will be tried in the Moscow-backed Supreme Court of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR)
The Swedish national has been named as Mathias Gustafsson and the Croatian as Vjekoslav Prebeg.
They face several charges including undergoing training to carry out ‘terrorist activities’. All five men are believed to have been released as part of a prisoner swap in 2022.
Russian state news agency Tass said last year that Mr Harding had fought in Syria on the Kurdish side but had denied killing anyone.
Mr Harding spoke to the Daily Mail about his imprisonment and said how he and four other hostages were taped together in the back of an old truck as they were taken from Ukraine to Russia.
He said he imagined being executed and buried never to be uncovered in the four months he was detained on the orders of Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, during which time he had been tortured and beaten while interrogated.
During his captivity in Russian-occupied Donetsk, Mr Harding shared a cramped prison cell, measuring 13ft by 6ft, with other inmates who were locked up for 23 hours a day
During his captivity in Russian-occupied Donetsk, he shared a cramped prison cell, measuring 13ft by 6ft, with other inmates who were locked up for 23 hours a day.
Inevitably his health suffered, his legs ‘wasted away’ as his weight plummeted to just eight stone. He also suffered neurological damage to his spine and hands. Worst of all, he had seen a fellow British hostage die in captivity.
The Russians had failed to meet the daily medication requirements of diabetic aid worker Paul Urey, 45, from Warrington, Cheshire, who died in July 2022 while Mr Harding was out in an exercise area. He came back to find the body.
Mr Harding had been serving as a combat medic in the Ukrainian armed forces when he was captured by the Russians.
He was facing the death penalty and his guards made him record a video to say goodbye to his daughter because he was due to be executed by firing squad, but then he was brought to an airstrip to be flown out of Russia as part of a prisoner exchange between Russian and Ukraine.
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