“Do you want a quick death or a beautiful death?” Horror of Aiden Aslin’s capture

Released prisoner of war Aiden Aslin has spoken for the first time after being freed from five months of solitary confinement inflicted by Russian-backed forces in Ukraine.

28-year-old Newark man Aiden Aslin was one of five people to return home to the UK following his capture by Russian-affiliated forces earlier this year.

He had been held in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol back in April, where he was fighting as a marine in the Ukraine defence effort against Russia.

Aiden Aslin when he was in Syria. | Photo: Facebook

Aiden first moved to Ukraine in 2018, meeting his fiancee and becoming a citizen of the country before his capture.

In his first interview since returning to his Nottinghamshire home, Aslin told The Sun that he was beaten and stabbed, before being asked if he would like a “quick death or a beautiful death”.

He claims that he was “treated worse than a dog” while held in solitary confinement for five months, and would be “punished” and “beaten” if he did not conform with singing the Russian national anthem each morning.

Along with Shaun Pinner, 48, and Moroccan national Brahim Saadoun, Aslin was put on trial at an internationally unrecognised court in the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic – where the trio were ‘sentenced to death‘ without the opportunity for witness evidence to be heard.

Aiden Aslin (left), Shaun Pinner (middle) and Saadun Brahim (right) were told they would face the death penalty after being sentenced in an internationally unrecognised court in the Donetsk People’s Republic. | Photo: Telegram

Aslin was labelled a mercenary by DPR soldiers, despite the fact he had moved to Ukraine in 2018 and later became a citizen of the country with a fiancee living in the Eastern European nation.

The 28-year-old spoke about his living conditions during the ordeal, saying: “We couldn’t go to the toilet properly because we didn’t have a toilet.”

John Harding, Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin returning home after being released by Russian forces. | Photo: Cossackgundi via Instagram

Prisoners would have to use empty bottles for their toilet habits, and Aslin says he survived on merely bread and water for three weeks, while sleeping on a mat infested with lice and cockroaches.

When his passport was checked, Aslin claims he was punched in the nose as it revealed he was British, and the only time he was allowed out of his cell was to take phone calls or complete pro-Russian propaganda.

Read: Captured Brit “interviewed” by Nottingham YouTuber known for pro-Russia conspiracies

Months of negotiations between the United Kingdom and Russia eventually led to five British nationals, including Aslin and Pinner, to be released and brought back home on Wednesday, September 21.

As reporters waited on Aslin’s doorstep upon his return to the UK, the recently freed Briton expressed thanks to those who helped bring him home – including Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.

A protest was held in Nottingham calling for the release of Aiden Aslin and two other men that were sentenced to death in a Russia-affiliated proxy court. | Photo: BBC Local News Hub