Donetsk, Aug 1 — DAN. The DPR Supreme Court has accepted the criminal case against foreign mercenaries who fought on Ukraine’s side, the courts' press service said.

“The Appeals Chamber of the DPR Supreme Court has received the criminal case against Mattias Gustavsson, Vjekoslav Prebeg, John Harding, Dylan Healy, Andrew Hill, who are foreign citizens charged with mercenary activities,” the statement reads.

The Appeals Chamber of the Donetsk People’s Republic Supreme Court handed down on June 9 death sentences to three foreign mercenaries who had fought on the side of Ukrainian armed formations. The defendants, British nationals Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin and a Moroccan national Saadun Brahim, are the first foreign mercenaries to be convicted in the Donetsk People’s Republic. They were charged under four articles of the DPR Criminal Code: committing a crime by a group of persons, violent coup or retention of power by force, mercenary activities, and training for terrorist activity. The mercenaries pleaded guilty to the charges.

The court found that the mercenaries’ actions led to civilian casualties and damage to the Republic’s social and civil infrastructure. *ot