UK man held in Ukraine 'stabbed', forced to sing Russian anthem

UK man held in Ukraine 'stabbed', forced to sing Russian anthem
September 26, 2022, 8:01 am

Aiden Aslin in a courtroom in the self-proclaimed republic of Donetsk in June. He was released with five other British captives on Wednesday. Photograph: AP

A British man captured by Russian-backed forces in Ukraine has revealed how he was beaten up, stabbed and asked whether he wanted a “quick” or “beautiful” death. He told Sunday how his captors stabbed him in the back and forced him to sing the Russian national anthem.

On September 22, five British prisoners of war released by Russia as part of an exchange with Ukraine arrived back in the U.K.

Among those freed were five British nationals: Aiden Aslin, John Harding, Dylan Healy, Andrew Hill and Shaun Pinner.

Aslin, who is originally from Newark, Nottinghamshire, was freed and flown to Riyadh Wednesday (Sep 21) with the four other Britons held by Russian proxies.

He told The Sun in his first interview back in the UK that interrogators tortured him, promising him a "beautiful death".

Aslin, 28, said he and other prisoners were forced to sing the Russian national anthem every morning, and if they did not comply they would be “punished for it. You would get beaten.”

Since the start of the war, Ukrainian sappers, firefighters and rescue workers have been on the front lines, working tirelessly to extinguish raging fires, clearing debris, demining cities and fields, performing their duty with honor. Photo: Euromaidan Press via Vova Neizviestny, Julia Kochetova, Konstantin Liberov

Aslin told The Sun he was repeatedly beaten with a truncheon during interrogation and at one point fell to the floor after being hit on the forehead.

An officer knelt by him and told him in Russian: "I am your death," he said.

"He pointed to my back. He showed me his knife and I realised he'd stabbed me," said Aslin, who posed showing multiple scars on his back.

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His captor then asked him if he wanted a quick death or a beautiful one, Aslin said. He responded a "quick death" and the man replied: "No, you're going to have a beautiful death."

Aslin said he responded that he wanted a quick death but was told: “You’re going to have a beautiful death and I’m going to make sure it’s a beautiful death.”

He was held in April while fighting in the south-eastern city of Mariupol and put on trial along with Pinner and Brahim Saadoun, a Moroccan citizen. They were told they faced the death penalty.

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In 2018, Aslin started to build a new life in Ukraine, having fallen in love with a Ukrainian woman, Diane Okovyta, and joined the marines.

After being reunited with his mother and his fiancee this week, Aslin said: “I never thought I’d get out alive.”

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