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Ukrainian court sentences Russian soldier to life in prison for killing civilian
A Ukrainian court sentenced a Russian soldier to life in prison on Monday (May 23) for killing an unarmed civilian in the first war crimes trial arising from Russia’s February 24 invasion.
Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old tank commander, had pleaded guilty to killing the 62-year-old man in the northeastern Ukrainian village of Chupakhivka on February 28 after being ordered to shoot at him from a car.
Vadim Shishimarin admitted shooting a 62-year-old man a few days after the invasion began.
Shishimarin 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 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.
First Russian soldier goes on trial in Ukraine for war crimes
Prosecutors say Shishimarin was commanding a unit in a tank division when his convoy came under attack.
They said that he and four other soldiers stole a car, and as they travelled near Chupakhivka, they encountered the 62-year-old on a bicycle.
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