War in Ukraine, 21-year-old Russian soldier Vadim on trial in Kiev pleads guilty to war crimes

Asked if he was guilty of the charges, including war crimes e premeditated murderhe answered “Yup“. The Russian soldier Vadim Shishimarin21, defendant in the first process which opened in a court of Kiev since the beginning of the Moscow invasion, he has pleaded guilty. Shishimarin, from the Siberian region of Irkutskwas accused of killing a civil from 62 years old in northeastern Ukraine in the early days of the Kremlin offensive and now faces life imprisonment.

The young man appeared in the classroom sitting in a glass box wearing a blue sweatshirt e gray with a hood and a shaved head. Upon reading the accusations against him, the soldier turned his gaze to the ground while the interpreter translated into Russian. According to the allegations, the young soldier killed the civilian near the village of Chupakhivka in the eastern region of Sumy last February 28th. The prosecutors claim that Shishimarin was al command of a unit when its convoy was attacked. He and four other soldiers have stolen a car and while they were near Chupakhivka they met a 62-year-old man in bike.

In Shishimarin, according to the indictment, it was ordered to kill the civilian and to do so he used an assault rifle Kalashnikov. “One of the soldiers ordered the accused to kill the civilian why not there denounce“Explained the prosecutor’s office. Shishimarin fired from the window of the vehicle and “the man – adds the accusation – died instantly, a few tens of meters from his home “. The Kremlin previously claimed it was not informed of the case.

The process, which will be followed by many others, constitutes a kind of test for the Ukrainian judicial system at a time when even the international institutions are conducting investigations into abuse committed by the Russian military forces. Vadim Shishimarin had appeared in court in Kiev last year 13 maggio for the preliminary hearing. “He has understood what he is accused of,” his attorney had explained Viktor Ovsiannikov.