Briton survived Russian captivity |
“It was like the zombie apocalypse”
Briton Shaun Pinner fought for the Ukrainian army in the besieged Mariupol and was taken prisoner of war by the Russians for four months. The Russian propaganda publicly demanded his death, that Pinner would ever be released again was considered impossible.
But now Pinner is free again! Together with 200 other prisoners of war, far away over 100 defenders of the Mariupol Azov Steel Plantthe Briton was exchanged for 55 Russian soldiers.
Now he talks about his time in Russian captivity. Of beatings, threats and brutal torture.
“The last six months have been the worst days of my life,” Pinner told the British Sunday newspaper „The Sun on Sunday“. Pinner describes the time in Mariupol as hell on earth.
It was “carnage” when the Russians attacked his unit with mortar shells and artillery. “There were so many bodies, it looked like something out of a zombie apocalypse.”
According to Pinner, he was surrounded by Russian soldiers when he was captured. “They stripped me and put a knife in my thigh for no reason.” They then beat him for 20 minutes.
Marked but happy to have survived: Brit Shaun Pinner after his release
Then the cruel months of captivity began.
Pinner tells of electrocution torture. The beatings lasted 40 seconds and would have caused excruciating pain. Pinner doesn’t know why the Russians tortured him. “It seemed like they were just doing it for fun.”
Pinner tells the Sun on Sunday about the moment he thought he was about to die. One of his torturers came into his cell, put the pistol to the back of his head, released the safety and said: “You’re about to die”. Pinner continued, “But then he started laughing and said he was just kidding and hit me with the gun.”
Pinner hasn’t lost his sense of humor though. He reports that music by the bands Slipknot and ABBA was played 24 hours a day in the detention center. “I never want to hear another ABBA song again,” says the Brit. “I already hated her so it was real torture.”
What gave Pinner the strength to survive was his Ukrainian wife, Larysa. Shortly before the arrest he called her and said goodbye to her. But instead of crying, she yelled at him on the phone. “She said I was a warrior and that I would survive.” Those words helped him through it all.
(fpi)