British POW who was tortured with electric shocks, beaten and starved by Putin’s troops in five-month ordeal while fighting for Ukraine wins lawsuit against Russia

A former British soldier who fought alongside Ukrainian forces before being captured and tortured by Russian soldiers has won a lawsuit against the Kremlin.

London lawyers and Ukrainian lawyers filed a complaint with the judge of Kiev’s Solomyanskiy District Court in October, alleging that Russia owes him money for the way he was treated while he was a prisoner of war.

Pinner enlisted as a contracted soldier in the Ukrainian army in 2018 and rose through the ranks after serving with the British Army for nine years, both in Bosnia and later fighting ISIS as a volunteer.

He was captured by Russian forces during the siege of Mariupol in April 2022.

A ‘high court’ in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic initially sentenced the former soldier and two others to death, but he was later released in a prisoner swap along with three other British fighters in a deal brokered by Saudi Arabia – and former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.

Pinner said he was brutally beaten, electrocuted and starved by his captors during five months in captivity. According to him, the treatment was a violation of his human rights and entitled him to compensation.

The court in Kiev today ruled in his favor, 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 POWs to file complaints against Russia. Pinner said he plans to pursue his case in British courts.

He was captured by Russian forces during the siege of Mariupol in April 2022

Shaun Pinner tells Good Morning Britain about his ordeal

A ‘high 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, June 9, 2022

Shaun told me The 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 Russian aggression. All victims of war must and will be able to hold Russia accountable for what they did.

“When Russia returns to the real world, they will have to settle these lawsuits… It’s not about now, it’s about the future, next year, ten years, twenty years.”

Pinner later received an Order of Courage from officials in Kiev upon his release from Russian captivity.

Last year, Pinner’s legal team admitted that the Kremlin would almost certainly ignore any court order for damages.

But they pointed out that in the years since the fall of the Soviet Union, Russian oligarchs have routinely used English courts to settle legal disputes in all parts of their lives.

Examples of cases include commercial disputes and even divorce settlements.

As a result, Pinner’s lawyers say there is a decades-long precedent for Russian judges following orders from English courts – and that the rulings could be significant in years to come.

Moreover, his case could prompt hundreds of Ukrainian citizens and other foreign fighters to pursue similar legal challenges.

Aiden Aslin, another of the Britons arrested in Mariupol who once faced the death penalty, is expected to take his case against Russia to a Ukrainian court next week.

Shaun Pinner with wife Larysa

Aiden Aslin, another of the Britons arrested in Mariupol and once sentenced to death, is expected to take his case against Russia to a Ukrainian court next week.

Aslin, pictured, was tortured 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 the treatment of prisoners of war.

Last year he revealed how badly he was injured by his Russian captors, claiming his “muscles were jumping out of his body.” [his] body’ and blood poured from his legs after his captors attached clips to him before sending 200 volts of electricity through his body, leaving him unable to walk.

He recalled how Russian soldiers took him to a wet room in an office for 45 minutes, tied him up, stabbed him, cut off his clothes and beat him, calling him a Nazi and ignoring his pleas of innocence.

There he suffered several ‘excruciating’ shocks that caused his legs to swell. When he took off his thermals, he noticed that he was bleeding from the damage to his body.

“I was screaming,” he said.

‘And then 200 volts went through me on the 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 go to my little finger… and then I knew exactly what that was.”