Foreign

Ukraine War: Russian Soldier Bags Life Imprisonment

By Web News 705

A court in Ukraine has jailed a Russian tank commander for life for killing a civilian at the first war crimes trial since the invasion.

Captured soldier, Sgt Vadim Shishimarin was convicted of killing Oleksandr Shelipov, 62, in the north-eastern village of Chupakhivka on the 28th of  February.

He admitted shooting Mr Shelipov but said he had been acting on orders and asked forgiveness of his widow.

Multiple other alleged war crimes are being investigated by Ukraine.

Moscow has denied its troops targeted civilians during the invasion while Ukraine says more than 11,000 crimes may have occurred.

This trial in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv is being seen as Ukraine’s chance to prove, beyond doubt, that a Russian soldier killed a civilian with no regard for the rules of war.

Moscow said earlier on Monday that it was concerned at the fate of the Russian soldier and would look at options to defend him.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov however, noted that Russia did “not have the capacity to protect his interests in person”. Russia’s embassy in Kyiv is currently closed.

Bbc/Adebukola Aluko

Foreign

Female Ukrainian confronts Russian soldier accused of killing her husband

By Web News 484

A 62-year-old unarmed civilian,Oleksandr Shelipov, was shot dead on a village street outside his Ukrainian home, during the first war crime.

Three months later and the captured Russian soldier accused of killing him is in Kyiv being tried for a war crime.

Standing up in court to confront the 21-year-old defendant on Thursday was Kateryna Shelipova, the widow of the man killed.

Did he repent his crime, she asked?

The Russian tank commander, Vadim Shishimarin, replied that he admitted his guilt and asked for her forgiveness. “But I understand you won’t be able to forgive me,” he added.

Kateryna Shelipova hadn’t finished. “Tell me please, why did you [Russians] come here? To protect us?” she asked, citing Vladimir Putin’s justification for the invasion of Ukraine.

“Protect us from whom? Did you protect me from my husband, whom you killed?”

The soldier had no answer to that.

This landmark trial marks the first time a Russian serviceman has been put on the stand for war crimes since the invasion of Ukraine was launched in February.

And perhaps such raw encounters are what such trials are about, at least in part. Forcing a soldier – who ignored all the rules of war – to face up to exactly what he has done and the suffering he has caused.

Sergent Shishimarin has pleaded guilty and Ukrainian prosecutors are asking for him to be sentenced to life imprisonment.

On Wednesday, Ms Shelipova told me she actually felt sorry for the soldier, but she could not forgive him for this crime.

She heard the shots that killed her husband, then saw Sergent Shishimarin through her gate – holding his weapon.

Five minutes later she says she saw her husband’s body: “He was dead with a shot in his head. I started screaming very loudly.”

“The loss of my husband is everything for me,” Ms Shelipova said, adding: “He was my protector.”

BBC/Taiwo Akinola

Foreign

Russian soldier pleads guilty to killing civilian during first war crimes trial in Ukraine

By Web News 477

Report says that, Vadim Shishimarin admitted shooting a 62-year-old man a few days after the invasion began. He faces life in jail.

The prisoner was brought into the tiny Kyiv courtroom in handcuffs, flanked by heavily armed guards. He looked nervous, and kept his head bowed.

The widow of the man killed was sitting just a couple of metres away from him.

She wiped tears from her eyes as the soldier entered court, then sat with hands clasped as the prosecutor set out his case, describing the moment Kateryna’s husband, Oleksandr Shelipov, was shot in the head.

“Do you accept your guilt?” the judge asked. “Yes,” Shishimarin replied.

“Totally?” “Yes,” he replied quietly from behind the glass of his grey metal-and-glass cage.

Prosecutors say Shishimarin was commanding a unit in a tank division when his convoy came under attack.

He and four other soldiers stole a car, and as they travelled near Chupakhivka, they encountered the 62-year-old on a bicycle, they said.

According to prosecutors, Shishimarin was ordered to kill the civilian and used a Kalashnikov assault rifle to do so.

The Kremlin said earlier it was not informed about the case.

Shishimarin’s trial was adjourned shortly after the civilian’s widow heard for the first time the Russian soldier admit to the murder. This high profile hearing will restart on Thursday in a larger courtroom.

Oleksandr’s widow told the BBC how she was coping, before she left the court for the day.

“I feel very sorry for him [Shishimarin],” she said. “But for a crime like that – I can’t forgive him.”

Ukraine has so far identified more than 10,000 possible war crimes committed by Russia.

The country’s chief prosecutor Iryna Venediktova tweeted: “By this first trial, we are sending a clear signal that every perpetrator, every person who ordered or assisted in the commission of crimes in Ukraine shall not avoid responsibility,”

Moscow has denied its troops have targeted civilians, but investigators have been collecting evidence of possible war crimes to bring before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

The ICC is sending a team of 42 investigators, forensics experts and support staff to Ukraine. Meanwhile, Ukraine has also set up a team to preserve evidence to enable future prosecutions.

BBC/Taiwo Akinola