A former British soldier who fought alongside Ukrainian troops before being captured and tortured by Russian soldiers has won a court case against the Kremlin.
London and Ukrainian lawyers filed a lawsuit before a judge at the Solomyanskiy District Court in kyiv in October, alleging that Russia owes them money for the way he was treated while a prisoner of war.
Pinner signed up to be a contract soldier in the Ukrainian army in 2018, rising through the ranks after serving in the British Army for nine years, fighting both in Bosnia and later as a volunteer against ISIS.
He was captured by Russian forces during the Siege of Mariupol in April 2022.
A “supreme court” of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic initially sentenced the former soldier and two others to death, but he was later freed in a prisoner swap along with three other UK fighters in a deal brokered by Saudi Arabia and the former Chelsea. owner Roman Abramovich.
Pinner said his captors brutally beat him, electrocuted him and starved him for five months in captivity; a treatment which he claimed infringed his human rights and entitled him to compensation.
The kyiv court ruled in his favor today, accepting that he was treated inhumanely and ruling that the Russian Federation must compensate him accordingly.
Moscow is expected to ignore the ruling, but the case could set a precedent for more prisoners of war to file complaints against Russia, and Pinner said he intends to pursue his case in British courts.
Shaun Pinner (pictured) was a soldier in the British Army for nine years before joining the Ukrainian Army.
He was captured by Russian forces during the Siege of Mariupol in April 2022.
Shaun Pinner tells Good Morning Britain about his ordeal
A ‘supreme court’ run by the Russian-occupied territory of Donetsk sentenced him to death along with other Britons, including Aiden Aslin, but he was later released.
British citizens Aiden Aslin (L) and Shaun Pinner (R) and Moroccan Saaudun Brahim (C) attend a sentencing hearing at the Supreme Court of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, on June 9, 2022.
shaun said Sun: ‘Russia must be held accountable for the way they treated me and this is the first step.
‘This now sets a precedent for other victims of Russia’s aggression. All war victims should and will be able to hold Russia accountable for what they have done.
“When Russia returns to the real world, they will have to resolve these legal cases… It’s not about now, but about the future, next year, 10 or 20 years from now.”
kyiv officials later awarded Pinner the Order of Courage upon his release from Russian captivity.
Speaking to the media last year, Pinner’s legal team admitted that the Kremlin was almost certain to ignore any court order for compensation.
But they noted that, in the years since the fall of the Soviet Union, Russian oligarchs have routinely used English courts to resolve legal disputes in all aspects of their lives.
Cases include business disputes and even divorce settlements.
As a result, Pinner’s lawyers say there is decades-long precedent of Russian judges following orders handed down by English courts, and that the rulings could have meaning for years to come.
What’s more, his case could encourage hundreds more Ukrainian citizens and other foreign fighters to file similar legal claims.
Aiden Aslin, one of the other Britons captured in Mariupol who once faced a death sentence, is expected to present his case against Russia in a Ukrainian court next week.
Shaun Pinner with his wife Larysa
Aiden Aslin, one of the other Britons captured in Mariupol who once faced a death sentence, is expected to present his case against Russia in a Ukrainian court next week.
Aslin, pictured, was tortured along with Pinner.
Pinner said the lawsuit is about more than just money: ‘It’s not just about financial compensation.
‘I want to send a signal that the Russian state is guilty of its treatment of prisoners of war.
Last year he revealed how badly his Russian captors hurt him, claiming his “muscles were coming out”. [his] body’ and blood gushed from his legs after his captors placed clips on him before passing 200 volts of electricity through his body, leaving him unable to walk.
He recalled how Russian soldiers took him for 45 minutes to a damp office room, tied him up, stabbed him, cut off his clothes and beat him while calling him a Nazi and ignoring his pleas for innocence.
There, he endured several “unbearable” blows that caused his legs to swell. When she took off her thermals, she discovered that she was bleeding from the damage to his body.
“I was screaming,” he said.
And then 200 volts went through my chair. I couldn’t feel my leg anymore.
“As soon as I got there, they taped my hands and legs to the chair and then I felt the clips stick to my little fingers… and then I knew exactly what that was.”