RABAT, Morocco -- The father of a Moroccan man facing execution after being captured by Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine appealed Monday to Russian President Vladimir Putin to intervene, "as a father," to spare his son from the firing squad.
"I want my son back, just like any father would," Taher Saadoun told reporters in the Moroccan capital of Rabat.
Saadoun also called on Morocco's government to pursue negotiations on behalf of his 21-year-old son, Brahim, who was sentenced June 9 to the death penalty alongside two Britons, Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner. They are the first foreign fighters sentenced by Ukraine's Russian-backed rebels.
A court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic convicted all three of terrorism and trying to overturn constitutional order.
They were given a month to appeal and could be executed as soon as early July if they don't.
The proceedings were denounced by the West as a violation of the rules of war, but the sentence was supported by Russian officials.
While the court claimed Saadoun was a mercenary, his father insisted that he was enlisted in Ukraine's army and when he was captured, wearing an official Ukrainian army uniform and carrying a weapon with serial numbers belonging to the government.
The Donetsk republic's foreign minister, Nataliya Nikonorova, told Russian state TV on Monday none of the men have filed yet for pardons.
The father said his son's local lawyer will submit the appeal when things calm down a bit. A lawyer for Aslin said the Briton is pessimistic about his prospects and British authorities have not contacted the Donetsk republic about an appeal.
Saadoun's father said he wrote to Putin and the leader of the Donetsk republic, and pleaded for intervention on his son's behalf.
"I'm appealing to Russian President Putin to step in as a father, by using NGOs and humanitarian organizations" to seek dialogue, Taher Saadoun said. "Russia is accountable because it supports the Donetsk Republic."
Brahim Saadoun's mother visited the Russian Embassy in Rabat, "which welcomed us warmly and gave us the case summary," Taher Saadoun said. The father said he had "faith" in the Donetsk court and was "grateful" to Russia for sparing his son's life when he was captured.
The father, a retired member of Morocco's Royal Gendarmerie, said he hasn't heard from anyone from the Moroccan government about his son's situation, but they ought to get in touch "because I pay taxes and I am military man who carried weapons to defend my country."
"I call on the prime minister of Morocco to step in and engage in dialogue through all formal and informal channels," he said.
The Moroccan foreign ministry said in a statement earlier this month that Saadoun obtained Ukrainian citizenship and enlisted in the Ukrainian army "of his own free will," and is imprisoned by "an entity which is recognized neither by the United Nations nor by Morocco." It has not commented on efforts for his release.
The family is seeking its own lawyer for Brahim Saadoun and prison visitation. They haven't spoken to him since his arrest.
"I am ready to board the first flight to see him and bring him home," his father said.
Brahim moved to Ukraine in 2019, picked up Ukrainian and started studying at the Institute of Aeronautics and Space Sciences in Kyiv the next year.
While there, his father said he noted shifts in Brahim's behavior in 2020 after he began purchasing military gear. Brahim stopped video chatting with his family in 2021, apparently to "hide these changes."
The family learned of his arrest by pro-Russian forces after a brief pause in communications. The father said he felt a little relieved when his son was apprehended by pro-Russian forces.