Three Britons have pleaded not guilty to mercenary charges at a Russian-backed separatist court in Ukraine.
John Harding, Andrew Hill and Dylan Healy, are among a group of five European men on trial in a court administered by Kremlin-backed separatists in the city of Donetsk.
Mr Harding, Croatian Vjekoslav Prebeg and Swedish citizen Mathias Gustafsson, who were captured in and around the port city of Mariupol, could face a possible death sentence under the laws of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.
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All five men pleaded not guilty to charges of mercenarism and “undergoing training to seize power by force”, Russian state-owned news agency TASS reported.
The next court hearing in their case is scheduled for October, the Interfax news agency reported, citing a statement by the separatists’ court.
Mr Healy, 22, who was in Ukraine as an aid worker was seized at a checkpoint south of…
