The prosecutor says a Russian soldier shot an unarmed civilian in the head with an assault rifle. According to the prosecutor, the convicted soldier received an order from another soldier who was not in charge of the convicted person.
Kievan a court convicted a Russian soldier on Monday Vadim Shishimarinto life imprisonment for killing an unarmed civilian.
In Ukraine, a life sentence means a sentence of imprisonment for the rest of one’s life, from which one can be released only due to a fatal illness or by pardon of the President.
This was the first conviction for a war crime in Russia during the war of aggression.
Shishimarin, 21 years old admitted earlier guilty of an 62-year-old unarmed civilian, Oleksandr Shelipovinkilling in the Sumy region of northeastern Ukraine on February 28.
Shishimarin served in the Russian army as a sergeant in an armored car unit.
The New York Times according to the prosecutor said that when Ukrainian troops attacked a convoy of Russian troops on February 28, the convoy had to disband. After this, Shishimar met four Russian soldiers, with whom he stole a car with which the whole group fled the fighting.
Arriving by car in the village of Chupahivka in the Sumy region, they noticed Shelipov cycling, talking on the phone at the same time.
After seeing Shelipov talking on the phone, Shishimar and the other Russian soldiers who accompanied him believed Shelipov was reporting the location of Russian troops to nearby Ukrainian troops.
For this reason, one of the soldiers accompanying Shishimarin pressured him to shoot Shelipov. According to the prosecutor, the soldier who issued the firing order was not in the position of chief vis-à-vis Shishimarin.
According to the prosecutor’s report, Šišimarin obeyed the order without questioning it and fired an unarmed Shelipov in the head with a Kalashnikov assault rifle.
Shishimarin said at the trial that he did not want to kill Shelipov. According to Šišimarin, he did so only because he had to obey the command.
The Washington Post according to Shishimarin’s lawyer Viktor Ovsyanikov said Shishimarin feared for his own safety if he had not complied with the order or if he had intentionally fired past.
Judge Serhiy Ahafonov however, Sergeant Shischarin was found guilty of murder and violation of the laws of war.
“The defendant partially pleaded guilty, claiming that he had no intention of killing Shelipov. The court cannot consider the defendant’s remorse sincere,” Ahafonov said. The New York Times by.
In the judge’s view, Shishimarin could have refused the shooting order because he was not under the command of the soldier who gave the order.
“The order was illegal. Realizing that the order was clearly criminal, Shishimar could have refused to obey it. ”
Russian presidential Vladimir Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Russia is concerned about the sentencing of Shishimar.
According to Peskov, Russia is going through options to “protect” Shishimarina. The news was reported by a Russian news agency Interfax.
“We are no doubt concerned about the fate of our citizens. Unfortunately, we do not have the opportunity to protect his interests on the ground, as our institutions in Ukraine are no longer operational. However, this does not mean that we do not consider influencing it through other channels. ”
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