Kyiv: On Wednesday, the first war crimes trial since Moscow invaded Ukraine against a Russian soldier accused of killing an unarmed civilian began in Kyiv.
The trial, which is expected to be followed by several others, will test the Ukrainian judicial system at a time when international institutions are also conducting their own investigations into abuses by Russian forces.
Vadim Shishimarin, 21, will appear in the Solomyansky District Court in Kyiv from 14:00 (11:00 GMT) on charges of the death of a 62-year-old man in north-eastern Ukraine on March 28. A soldier from Irkutsk, Siberia, accused of war crimes and first-degree murder faces life imprisonment.
“He understands what he is accused of,” his lawyer Viktor Ovsiannikov told AFP, without disclosing the defense case. Ukrainian authorities say he is cooperating with investigators and admitting the facts of the incident, which happened just four days after the Russian invasion began.
Prosecutors noted that Shishimarin was commanding a unit in an armored division when his convoy was attacked. He and four other soldiers stole a car and, while driving near the village of Shupakhivka in the Sumy region, came across a 62-year-old man on a bicycle.
“One of the soldiers ordered the accused to kill the civilian so he would not report them,” prosecutors said.
Shishimarin then fired a Kalashnikov assault rifle from the vehicle’s window and “the man was killed instantly, a few tens of meters from his home,” they added in a statement.
“Clear Signal” In early May, Ukrainian authorities announced his arrest without giving details, while also releasing a video in which Shishimarin said he had come to Ukraine to fight to “financially support his mother “.
He explained his actions by saying: “I was ordered to shoot, I shot him once. He fell and we continued our journey.” The case is proving challenging according to his attorney. “This is the first such case in Ukraine with such an allegation.
There is no relevant legal practice or jurisprudence in such cases. We’ll fix it,” he said. Ovsiannikov said he saw no violations by the authorities. Ukraine’s chief prosecutor Iryna Venediktova underlined the importance of the case for her country in a series of tweets.
“We have more than 11,000 ongoing war crimes cases and already 40 suspects,” he said.”With this first trial, we are sending a clear signal that all perpetrators, all people who ordered or contributed to crimes in Ukraine, cannot escape responsibility.”
Two Russian soldiers will be tried on Thursday because they fired missiles at civilian infrastructure in the north-eastern Kharkiv region.