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Shaun Pinner
Shaun Pinner is a former soldier of the British Army who joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces as a contracted fighter in 2018 and fought during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. During the siege of Mariupol, he was captured and sentenced to death in a show trial by the Supreme Court of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), but was freed in September in a prisoner exchange. In December 2022 he was awarded the state ‘Order of Courage, 3rd Degree’ in a decree by President Zelensky for “selfless acts in the defence and sovereignty of Ukraine”. His service in the Ukrainian marines makes him an active-duty soldier protected by the Geneva conventions on prisoners of war. However, Russian state media has portrayed him as a mercenary. Another British citizen, Aiden Aslin and the Moroccan Saadoun Brahim, received identical verdicts in the same trial. British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss tweeted that: "The judgement against them is an egregious breach of the Geneva c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council was abolished in 2009. Bedfordshire is bordered by Cambridgeshire to the east and north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east and south. It is the fourteenth most densely populated county of England, with over half the population of the county living in the two largest built-up areas: Luton (258,018) and Bedford (106,940). The highest elevation point is on Dunstable Downs in the Chilterns. History The first recorded use of the name in 1011 was "Bedanfordscir," meaning the shire or county of Bedford, which itself means "Beda's ford" (river crossing). Bedfordshire was historically divided into nine hundreds: Barford, Biggleswade, Clifton, Flitt, Manshead, Redbornestoke, S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mercenary
A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rather than for political interests. Beginning in the 20th century, mercenaries have increasingly come to be seen as less entitled to protections by rules of war than non-mercenaries. The Geneva Conventions declare that mercenaries are not recognized as legitimate combatants and do not have to be granted the same legal protections as captured service personnel of the armed forces. In practice, whether or not a person is a mercenary may be a matter of degree, as financial and political interests may overlap. Modern mercenary organizations are generally referred to as private military companies or PMCs. Laws of war Protocol Additional GC 1977 (APGC77) is a 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
