Convicted of the murder of a 62-year-old Ukrainian civilian in the northeast of the country on February 28, Vadim Chichimarine was sentenced to life imprisonment.
The court decided to find Chichimarine guilty and sentence her to life imprisonmentsaid Judge Sergei Agafonov on Monday.
The 21-year-old soldier watched the proceedings in silence and showed no emotion while reading the verdict, the Reuters news agency reported. He has been sentenced to four days.
Judicial appeal at sight
Prior to the verdict, defense attorney Vadim Chichimarine said BBC News that no Russian official has contacted him. The soldier will appeal his sentence, according to his lawyer.
Moscow continues to deny targeting civilians and denies any involvement in war crimes. The Kremlin did not immediately respond to this ruling. He has already stated that he has no information on this trial and can only provide limited assistance due to the absence of a Russian diplomatic mission in Ukraine.
At the time of the murder, Mr Chichimarine and other soldiers were traveling in a car they had seized after raiding their convoy and they were separated from their unit.
While we were driving we saw a man talking on the phone, he said at the hearings. According to him, one of the soldiers in the vehicle shot him so as not to be denounced.
Vadim Chichimarine assured that at first he refused. But another soldier, according to him, insisted: He told me in a steady shot tone, that if I didn’t we would be in danger. The prosecutor insisted, however Vadim Chichimarine admitted that he was not superior to this man and he was not obliged to follow him.
The defendant pleaded guilty and then apologized Thursday to the widow of the man he shot, but he said he understood if it would not forgive him.
The wife of the deceased said she would not oppose the possible transfer of Vadim Chichimarine to Russia in the framework of a prisoner exchange if it would allow the return of our men taken during the siege of Mariupol.
According to the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office, the country has opened more than 12,000 investigations into war crimes since the fighting began.
Trial for Ukrainian soldiers from Azovstal
On Monday, the head of Donetsk Pro-Russian People’s Republic Denis Pushilin said Ukrainian prisoners of war who defended the Azovstal metallurgical plant in Mariupol would be taken to the courts of the self-declared pro-Russian separatist state, according to Russia’s Interfax agency.
Interfax did not specify on what grounds the Ukrainian fighters would be tried, but Moscow considered that the soldiers of the Azov regiment, part of the factory contingent, were neo-Nazis, and called on Russian justice last week to sort this unit. in the list of terrorist organizations.
In Davos, Switzerland, facing the cream of the world economy, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the international community to take sanctions maximumin particular will not no trade with Russia.
He also called for more weapons for his country: Ukraine needs all the weapons we demand, not just the ones provided.
Source: Radio-Canada
