Aiden Aslin

Fighting ISIS in Rojava In 2015, Aslin travelled to Rojava to join the YPG. From 2015 to 2016 Aslin fought with the YPG International in Tel Abyad and al-Hasakah. He also participated in the 2015 al-Hawl offensive against Daesh (ISIS). He returned to the United Kingdom on 3 February 2016 Aslin gained some media attention for protesting his treatment by Nottinghamshire Police in their investigation of his activities pursuant to the Terrorism Act "in the preparation to fight against Daesh" and possessing "articles for terrorist purposes in Iraq/Syria". but this did not protect Aslin from legal difficulties upon returning home. Charges were ultimately dropped and he returned to Rojava in 2016. Aslin has been critical of the international community's lack of support for the YPG, of the Turkish occupation of parts of Rojava, and of the sale of British weapons to Turkey for attacks against the Kurds. In February 2022 he was deployed to Mariupol. On 12 April 2022 he surrendered to Russian forces who had been besieging the city since 24 February 2022. He appeared to have sustained injuries while in captivity and was interviewed on 18 April by British freelance journalist Graham Phillips. Geoffrey Robertson, a human rights barrister, called the interview a breach of the Geneva Conventions done for "propaganda purposes". Concerns about Aslin's treatment were subsequently raised by MP Robert Jenrick in the UK parliament. After a complaint from Aslin's family, through their MP Robert Jenrick, Phillips' interview with Aslin was removed from YouTube. Aslin has since given several interviews, and a YouTube channel in his name was started. The channel was later terminated in August 2022 'after a legal complaint'. ==Trial in Russian-occupied Donetsk==

On 30 April, the prosecutor-general for the illegal Russian proxy DPR falsely designated Aslin and two others as mercenaries (Article 47 of the Additional Protocol I of the Geneva Convention and the United Nations Mercenary Convention), DPR accused Aslin and two others of acting as mercenaries, beginning an investigation of "the commission of crimes by a group of persons (part 2 of article 34 of the Criminal Code of the DPR), on the forcible seizure of power or the forcible retention of power (Article 323 of the Criminal Code of the DPR) and on mercenarism (Article 440 Criminal Code of the DPR)", While in captivity Aslin was interrogated on camera by Graham Phillips, a British national working for Russian propaganda. Aslin described his behavior as "psychotic" when filming the interview. On 7 June Aslin, Pinner and Brahim were tried by the Supreme Court of the Donetsk People's Republic and stated that he had no objections to proceeding with the trial. It is unclear if he had legal assistance during the proceedings. On 9 June the Court found the trio guilty on all charges, On 5 July, Aslin's defence team filed an appeal, requesting the dismissal of the verdict due to lack of corpus delicti. On 21 September, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia reported that Russia released ten foreign prisoners of war in a prisoner exchange after mediation by Mohammed bin Salman, Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia. According to his MP Robert Jenrick, Aiden Aslin was among the prisoners released. Reaction British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss called the verdict "a sham judgment with absolutely no legitimacy" and MP Robert Jenrick called the trial a "disgusting Soviet-era show trial". A spokesperson for Ukraine's foreign ministry said "Such public trials place the interests of propaganda above law and morality, and undermine the exchange mechanisms of war prisoners." The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said that "[s]uch trials against prisoners of war amount to a war crime ... According to the chief command of Ukraine, all the men were part of the Ukrainian armed forces and if that is the case, they should not be considered as mercenaries ... Since 2015, we have observed that the so-called judiciary within these self-contained republics have not complied with essential fair trial guarantees, such as public hearings, independence, impartiality of the courts and the right not to be compelled to testify." On 12 June, Denis Pushilin, head of the DPR, appeared to rule out an executive pardon for the defendants, as "[t]hey came to Ukraine to kill civilians for money ... I don't see any conditions for any mitigation or modification of the sentence." On 23 June, the BBC reported that Aslin had informed his family via telephone that he had been told by DPR officials that "time is running out" and that no attempts have been made by British government officials to negotiate on his behalf. In November 2022, when trying to return to Ukraine, Aslin discovered a Schengen entry ban has been placed on his name by the German government, which resulted in the Polish border force denying him entry into the EU when arriving on a flight to Poland. Aslin believes this ban was placed in order to prevent re-use of his original passport captured by Russian authorities for a covert entry into EU. ==Personal life==

Aslin was born in 1994. He lived in Newark, Nottinghamshire and worked as a carer. Aslin is reported to have either a fiancée of Ukrainian descent and to have settled in the Mykolaiv area prior to the conflict. He became a Ukrainian citizen in July 2025. Aslin goes by the online username "Cossack Gundi" on his public social media accounts. ==See also==