Russian soldier pleads guilty in war crimes trial in Ukraine
By Pavel Polityuk
KYIV (Reuters) -A Russian soldier accused of conflict crimes in Ukraine pleaded responsible on Wednesday to killing an aged unarmed civilian.
Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old Russian tank commander, entered his plea in a Kyiv district court docket listening to its first conflict crimes trial in opposition to a Russian soldier who took half in Moscow’s Feb. 24 invasion.
In a trial that has large symbolic significance for Kyiv, Shishimarin is charged with murdering a 62-year-old civilian within the northeast Ukrainian village of Chupakhivka on Feb. 28. If convicted, he faces as much as life imprisonment.
Ukraine has accused Russia of atrocities and brutality in opposition to civilians throughout the invasion and stated it has recognized greater than 10,000 doable conflict crimes.
Russia has denied concentrating on civilians or involvement in conflict crimes and accused Kyiv of staging them to smear its forces.
Requested in regards to the trial, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov instructed Reuters: “As earlier than, there is no such thing as a info (in regards to the trial) and the power (of Russia) to supply help can also be restricted as a result of absence of our diplomatic mission.”
Requested extra broadly about conflict crimes allegations in opposition to Russian forces in Ukraine, Peskov stated: “We take into account it unattainable and unacceptable to throw such phrases round. Most of the instances that Ukraine is speaking about are apparent fakes, and probably the most egregious ones are staged, as has been convincingly proved by our specialists.”
After guards led Shishimarin into the court docket in handcuffs, he was requested by the decide if he accepted the cost in opposition to him. He confirmed that he did.
Ukrainian state prosecutors have stated Shishimarin and 4 different Russian servicemen fired at and stole a privately owned automobile to flee after their column was focused by Ukrainian forces.
The Russian troopers drove into the village of Chupakhivka the place they noticed an unarmed resident driving a bicycle and speaking on his cellphone, they stated.
They stated Shishimarin was ordered by one other serviceman to kill the civilian to stop him reporting on the Russians’ presence and fired a number of photographs by way of the open window of the automobile with an assault rifle on the civilian’s head. The civilian died on the spot.
(Writing by Tom Balmforth, Enhancing by Timothy Heritage)
