US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. File photoWASHINGTON, Jun 10 The United States expresses grave concern over the decision of the Supreme Court of the Donetsk People's Republic, which sentenced to death three foreign mercenaries who fought on the side of Ukrainian forces, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said. Earlier in the DPR two citizens of Britain and a citizen of Morocco were sentenced to capital punishment. According to the laws of the republic, the condemned will be shot. They can challenge the court's decision within a month. Blinken said it was a «bogus» trial that convicted «lawful combatants who served in the armed forces of Ukraine.» «We call on Russia and its satellites to respect international humanitarian law, including rights and protection, provided to prisoners of war,» he wrote on Twitter. 
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry commented on the verdict on foreign mercenaries in the DPR On Wednesday, the British Sean Pinner, Aiden Aslin and Moroccan Saadoun Brahim pleaded guilty to acts aimed at seizing power by force. The corresponding article of the Criminal Code of the DPR provides for the death penalty. Aslin also pleaded guilty under the article «Training for the purpose of carrying out terrorist activities.» The investigation found that foreign mercenaries took part in the armed aggression of Ukraine to forcibly seize power in the DPR for a fee. The official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Major General Igor Konashenkov, stated that «The mercenaries who arrived in Ukraine are not combatants, the best thing that awaits them is a long term in prison.» He noted that foreign mercenaries do not have the status of combatants under international humanitarian law.
