the ukrainian prosecutor’s office He called this Thursday for life imprisonment, the maximum penalty, against the first Russian soldier tried for war crimes in kyiv, accused of having killed a civilian in February.
(Also read: Russian military accused of war crimes in Ukraine pleads guilty)
On the second day of the trial, the prosecutor asked the court to pronounce “a sentence of imprisonment for life” for Vadim Shishimarin, 21, according to a journalist present in the courtroom.
soldier apologize
Shishimarin, the first Russian soldier to be prosecuted in Ukraine for war crimes, also He apologized this Thursday to the widow of his victim during the trial sessionreported the Ukrainian outlet The Kyiv Independent.
Shishimarin, 21, pleaded guilty Wednesday to having killed a Ukrainian civilian in the Sumy region, in northern Ukraine, in an event that occurred on February 28, four days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. country, according to sources.
“I know you won’t be able to forgive me, but I apologize anyway.21-year-old Russian Sergeant Vadim Shishimarin told the wife of the 62-year-old man he admitted to killing.
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The soldier, commander of unit 32010 of the fourth armored division of the Kantemirovskaya Guards of the Moscow region, gave a detailed account of how he shot his victim, a 62-year-old man, the sources said.
According to the prosecution’s investigation, on February 28 Shishimarin killed an unarmed man who was riding a bicycle on the road in the town of Chupajivka.
After an attack by the Ukrainian Army, the column that the commander was part of had disbanded and the accused, in the company of four other soldiers, fled in a civilian vehicle seized by force.
Arriving in Chupajivka, they met the victim, who was talking on the phone, and Shishimarin shot him in the head with a machine gun to prevent him from betraying them to the Ukrainian troops, he specifies the prosecution’s account.
(Keep reading: The US resumes operations at its embassy in kyiv)
“We wanted to get to where our army was and go back to Russia,” he explained.
Shishimarin. “On the way, as we were driving, we saw a man. He was on the phone and said he would turn us in,” he continued.
Shishimarin explained that another Russian soldier who was traveling in the same car – who according to him was not his commander and whom he called an “unknown” soldier – told him to shoot. “He started saying in a forceful tone that he should shoot,” he testified in court.
“He told me that if I didn’t it could be dangerous. I shot him at close range and killed him“, he confessed.
The commander was later captured by kyiv forces, and on May 4 the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) released a video in which he confessed to shooting a civilian.
The boyish-looking soldier dressed in a gray and blue hood looked down at the ground with his head resting on the glass defense box where he stood as Katerina Shelipova testified about her husband’s death.
(You can see: Mariupol falls into Russian hands after Ukraine abandons the fight in Azovstal)
Shishimarin faces between 10 and 15 years in prison or life in prison. if convicted of the charges charged, violation of the laws of war, in combination with premeditated murder.
Other Russian soldiers are expected to face trial soon in Ukraine, as kyiv claims to have opened thousands of war crimes cases since Moscow launched its invasion on February 24.
EFE and AFP
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