Russian Sergeant Vadim Shishimarin, 21, pleaded guilty to the crimes for which they were accused. Photo: AP
The first Russian soldier has tried war crimes in Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion pleaded guilty on Wednesdayand admitted all the facts of which he was accused.
Asked if he acknowledges the entirety of the act, which includes cases such as a war crime and intentional murder, the 21-year-old non-commissioned officer, Vadim Shishimarin replied “yes”.
Shishimarin, 21, appeared in Solomianski district court in kyiv at 2 pm local time, charged with the death of a 62-year-old man on February 28 in northeastern Ukraine, four days after the onset of the invasion.
Vadim Shishimarin spoke to his interpreter during his trial in kyiv. Photo: AP
The trial, the first of several to be held in a short time, will be a trial for ukrainian judicial system at a time when international institutions are spreading their own investigations into alleged abuses committed by Russian troops in this country. the
According to the accusation, Shishimarin was commanding a unit within an armored division when his convoy was attacked. Along with four other soldiers stole a vehicle to escape.
Near the village of Chupakhivka, in the Sumi region, they passed a 62-year-old man riding a bicycle. “One of the soldiers ordered the defendant to kill the civilian so he won’t report them, ”according to the attorney general’s office.
According to the prosecution’s account, the soldier fired a kalashnikov from the car window and “the man died on the spot some ten meters from his house. “
Ukraine began to prosecute war crimes committed by Russian troops during the invasion. Photo: AP
An unprecedented process
In early May, Ukrainian authorities announced his arrest without providing details along with a video in which the soldier said he was going to fight in Ukraine to “support your mother financially”.
On the accusations, Shishimarin explained: “I received the order to shoot, I shot him once. He fell and we continued our journey.”
The case is complicated, his lawyer said. “We have never had this kind of accusation in Ukrainewe have no precedents, verdicts, “he said.
“But we will succeed,” Ovsiannikov added, assuring that was found “no violation of rights“of the accused by the authorities.
Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova in a series of Twitter messages underlined the importance of the case for her country.
“We opened more than 11,000 investigations into war crimes and arrested 40 suspects,” he wrote.
Waiting for them to get to court, “in this first trial, we sent a clear signal: no executioner, no one who ordered or helped commit crimes in Ukraine escape justice“, he said.
The Ukrainian authorities do not want to waste time and on Thursday the trial of two more Russian soldiers will begin for firing projectiles at civilian infrastructure in the northeastern region of Kharkov, the second largest city of the country.
Source: AFP
Source: Clarin
