{"id":938666,"date":"2026-05-05T05:44:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T05:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/938666\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T05:44:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T05:44:19","slug":"ukraine-war-british-veteran-sues-russia-after-being-starved-beaten-and-tortured-by-vladimir-putins-forces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/938666\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine war: British veteran sues Russia after being \u2018starved, beaten and tortured\u2019 by Vladimir Putin\u2019s forces"},"content":{"rendered":"

A British veteran and prisoner of war has sued the Russia after he claimed was starved, beaten and tortured by Vladimir Putin’s forces in Ukraine. <\/p>\n

The ex-soldier Shaun Pinner<\/a>, 52, will take his case to the High Court after he was captured and subject to horrific abuse at a Russian black site.<\/p>\n

He previously served in the Royal Anglian Regiment, and has already been awarded \u00a3250,000 in damages by court in Kyiv.<\/p>\n

While in Ukraine, he served in the Georgian Legion, a volunteer unit, with members representing at least 33 nationalities.<\/p>\n

Mr Pinner told The Sun: “This is to right a wrong, not just for me but for all those who have suffered at the hands of Russia.<\/p>\n

“Vladimir Putin ignored the ruling in Kyiv and refuses to pay a single penny – so we\u2019re going after him in London.<\/p>\n

“If we win, it will set a legal precedent that would allow Ukrainians to seek redress and compensation for physical and mental torture.<\/p>\n

“It would effectively open the floodgates for compensation into the billions.<\/p>\n

\"Shaun<\/p>\n

Shaun Pinner as he appeared in his show trial in Donetsk<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

REUTERS<\/p>\n

“This won\u2019t replace people or property. Some people have lost both.<\/p>\n

“But financial compensation would enable those left behind to rebuild their shattered lives.”<\/p>\n

Court papers titled Shaun Pinner vs The Russian Federation are set to be lodged shortly.<\/p>\n

Mr Pinner was captured after the fall of Mariupol in April 2022, where he was hooded and transported to a prison in Donetsk.<\/p>\n

\"RomanRoman Abramovich played a key role in negotiations to return Shaun Pinner to Britain after he was sentenced to death | GETTY<\/p>\n

While he was holed up there, he said guards poked him with a cattle prod and told him to prepare for his death.<\/p>\n

Mr Pinner, alongside fellow Briton Aiden Aslin and Moroccan Saadoun Brahim, were given death sentences at a show trial in Donetsk’s Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

He was spared, however, thanks to a prisoner exchange in September 2022 which was facilitated by Roman Abramovich, the former Chelsea owner and Russian oligarch.<\/p>\n

John Harding, another British Army veteran freed in the exchange, told reporters at the time he did not recognise the former Premier League owner until Mr Pinner pointed him out.<\/p>\n

\"John<\/p>\n

John Harding, another British prisoner of war who was released thanks to Roman Abramovich’s intervention<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

He said: “Shaun said: ‘You really look like Roman Abramovich’ and he replied, ‘That’s because I am him, sir’. He couldn\u2019t believe it.<\/p>\n

“I joked that Shaun is a West Ham fan and we all laughed.”<\/p>\n

Mr Pinner has been granted an Order of Courage by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, for “selfless acts in the defence and sovereignty of Ukraine”.<\/p>\n

An estimated 20,000 foreign volunteers have served or are currently serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, according to research.<\/p>\n

This represents about two per cent of the total strength of Ukraine’s military force.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A British veteran and prisoner of war has sued the Russia after he claimed was starved, beaten and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":938667,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7655],"tags":[27765,12,332,657,333,263],"class_list":["post-938666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-russia","tag-army","tag-news","tag-russia","tag-ukraine","tag-vladimir-putin","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116520384466141142","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=938666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/938667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=938666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=938666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=938666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}