Ukraine’s foreign minister has said that Paul Urie, a British aid worker in Ukraine who died in early July while being held by pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk, who believed he was a “mercenary”, was subjected to “unspeakable torture”. Dmytro Kuleba of Ukraine, BBC reports.

Paul Yuri, 45, died in custody in July after being captured by pro-Russian separatists. He was considered a “mercenary” and was held captive by the self-proclaimed separatist republic of Donetsk in Ukraine.

Britain presented him as a humanitarian worker and said that Russia should bear responsibility for his death.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that the Russians returned his body with “traces of possibly unspeakable torture,” without giving further details.

He condemned the detention and torture of civilians as a war crime, promising to “identify the perpetrators of this crime and bring them to justice.”

What is known about the British citizen Paul Urie

Uri, originally from Warrington, Cheshire, was detained at a checkpoint outside the southeastern city of Zaporozhye in April on charges of being a mercenary.

After his death was announced, his mother told the BBC that she was “very upset” when she heard about her son’s plans to go to Ukraine.

Uri had type 1 diabetes and was insulin dependent.

Why did a British citizen die?

If proven, the torture could contradict earlier claims by Russian-backed officials that Uri died in custody on July 10 due to health problems and “stress.”

“He died of acute coronary insufficiency aggravated by swelling of the lungs and brain,” Russian state news agency TASS quoted official Natalya Nikonorova at the time.

He was also in a “state of psychological depression due to indifference to his fate in his native country,” another official claimed, news.ro said.

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