Russian Soldier Pleads Guilty in Ukraine’s First War Crimes Trial

Russian soldier  Vadim Shishimarin pleaded guilty to killing a Ukrainian civilian on Wednesday before a court in Kyiv, where the first trial for alleged war crimes is being held since the invasion of the European country by Moscow’s troops, in a conflict that It’s about three months. Dressed in a blue and khaki hooded sweater, Petty Officer Shishimarin stood alone in his glass “box” in the small courtroom of the Solomiansky district of Kyiv. After reading the indictment, he was questioned as to whether he recognized the accusations. “Yes,” he answered.  “In its entirety?” continued the magistrate, while the Russian soldier again said  “yes.” Shishimarin, 21, accused of killing a 62-year-old civilian on February 28 in northeastern Ukraine, faces life in prison for war crime and premeditated murder.

The trial, the first of several to be held in the short term, will be a test for the Ukraine judicial system at a time when international institutions are launching their investigations into alleged abuses committed by Russian troops in this country. How was the attack carried out by the Russian soldier on the Ukrainian civilian? Numerous international journalists crammed into the tiny courtrooms to follow this hearing broadcast online. According to the indictment, Sergeant Vadim Shishimarin was leading a small unit within a tank division when his convoy was attacked on February 28, just four days after the Russian invasion began. With four other soldiers, he then stole a car.

When they were driving near the town of Shupakhivka, in the Sumy region (northeast), they came across a man who was pushing his bicycle while talking on his mobile phone. ” One of the soldiers ordered the defendant to kill the civilian so that he would not denounce them” according to the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office Shishimarin then fired a Kalashnikov from the vehicle’s windows, and the man “died on the spot”, a few dozen meters from his home, adds this source. In early May, the Ukrainian authorities announced his arrest without giving further details, although they did publish a video in which Vadim Shishimarin claimed to have fought in Ukraine to “help his mother financially”. Regarding the accusations against him, the Russian non-commissioned officer explained: ” I received the order to shoot, I fired once, he fell and we went on our way.” In court, the prosecutor Andriï Syniuk specified that the defendant was arrested on March 1 with three other soldiers because the fifth was killed shortly before in combat. The hearing was later adjourned, and testimony will continue on Thursday. Ukraine hopes to give a signal with the trial of the Russian soldier The case is complicated, says the defendant’s lawyer, Victor Ovsiannikov. “We have never had this kind of accusation in Ukraine, we have no precedents, verdicts,” he noted. “But we will succeed,” added Ovsiannikov, assuring that he had not found “any violation of the rights” of the accused by the authorities.

Ukrainian Prosecutor-General Iryna Venediktova stressed in a series of messages on Twitter the importance of the case for her country. We have over 11,000 ongoing cases of war crimes and already 40 suspects. I am confident that in the nearest future we will see other cases being transferred to courts and perpetrators appearing before judges. We will ensure that these cases are brought to their logical end.

“We have opened more than 11,000 war crimes investigations and arrested 40 suspects,” he wrote. Waiting for them to come to court, ” with this first trial, we send a clear signal: no executioner, no person who has ordered or helped commit crimes in Ukraine is going to escape justice,” he said. The Ukrainian authorities do not want to waste time and on Thursday two other Russian soldiers will begin to be tried for firing projectiles at civilian infrastructure in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city.