Surviving Russian captivity: Shaun Pinner's haunting warning for Australian Oscar Jenkins
London: As Australian Oscar Jenkins awaits trial in a Russian-controlled prison, accused of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine, former British soldier Shaun Pinner knows all too well the torment that may follow.
Captured by Putin's forces in 2022 while defending Mariupol alongside Ukrainian troops, Pinner spent five months in captivity, enduring torture, starvation, and psychological torment – an ordeal that still haunts him.
'But you should never lose hope in a situation like that,' Pinner says. 'Because if you lose hope, you've lost everything.'
Originally sentenced to death by a Donetsk court in a Kafkaesque trial, during which his own lawyer argued for his guilt, Pinner offers chilling insight into what Jenkins may soon face.
Jenkins, 33, a former schoolteacher from Melbourne, was captured in December 2024 after joining Ukraine's 66th Separate Mechanised Brigade. He now faces trial in the Russian-backed Luhansk People's Republic, accused of being a 'mercenary in an armed conflict', a charge that could result in up to 15 years in prison. His case has drawn international concern, with the Australian government working through diplomatic channels to secure his release.
'Everything they do is about breaking you down,' says Pinner, speaking from his adopted home of Dnipro, in central Ukraine. 'The darkest moments were when I was left alone in my cell for 12 hours. I just broke down crying, thinking I'd never get home.'
He warns that legal proceedings in Russian-occupied territories are largely performative. Still, Jenkins may avoid the lawlessness of a frontline POW camp by being held in a slightly more controlled facility.
'By the time my sham trial came around, I looked like I'd been in a death camp,' Pinner says. 'We hadn't seen daylight for 60 days. We were so malnourished, our skin went like crêpe paper and our fingernails became paper-thin.'
Fed mostly on scraps of bread, Pinner lost 20 kilograms. 'My back went straight into my legs, my elbows protruded. I thought I was going to die of starvation before the trial.'
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