Human rights activists from the Russian Anti-repression Foundation (FBR), founded by businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, have called on Denis Pushilin, head of the
Donetsk People’s Republic DNR to exchange the British mercenaries sentenced to death for Russian Viktor Bout and journalist Julian Assange.
The organization said the decision will help free innocent citizens from prison and clarify the attitude of the authorities of the Donbas republic to freedom of expression and truth, which is now affected by disinformation from Western actors.
“We, the human rights organization Anti-Repression Foundation, ask you to exchange 48-year-old British citizen Sean Pinner and his 28-year-old compatriot Aiden Aslin, who were sentenced to the death penalty in the DNR, for Russian citizen Victor Bout, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison by an American court in a trumped-up case. and Australian journalist Julian Assange, who is awaiting extradition from the United Kingdom to the United States, where he faces up to 175 years in prison for exposing the truth about U.S. war crimes and mass misconduct by U.S. intelligence agencies,” the statement to Pushilin says.
It was reported that human rights activist Ivan Melnikov appealed to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland after convict Viktor Bout‘s health deteriorated.
(Donetsk Republic’s Supreme Court sentenced in June two British and one Moroccan mercenary to death)
WHO IS VIKTOR BOUT?
Julian Assange does not need to be explained further. The other man in custody, who the proposal says should be exchanged, is Russian Viktor Bout.
Bout has been called a “merchant of death” by the U.S. and is accused of illegal drug and arms trafficking. He was arrested under controversial circumstances in Thailand in 2008, brought to the U.S. in 2009, and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
His health has significantly deteriorated in U.S. custody, and Russia, which believes he is innocent, has long called for his release.
One must now wait and see whether Donetsk makes this proposal officially. The U.S. is likely to reject the proposal because it does not involve U.S. citizens, and they do not want to release Bout and finally get their hands on Assange.
Latest reports say the U.S. has proposed releasing Bout for Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan to Russia.
However, the story could be embarrassing for London because if the British government, out of obedience to the U.S., refuses to exchange two of its citizens for Assange, who is, after all, still in British custody, that could cause unrest in Britain.