Sergeant Vadim Shishimarin, the first Russian soldier tried for war crimes in Ukraine, was sentenced to life in prison. Shishimarin, 21, pleaded guilty to killing Oleksandr Shelipov, an unarmed 62-year-old civilian shot in the head in the village of Chupakhivka in the Sumy region on February 28.
The Kiev court, Ukrainian media explained, found evidence against Shishimarin and concluded that the murder was premeditated. The court dismissed the defense’s arguments that the soldier had carried out the order because it was given by another military man. The soldier in particular had pleaded guilty and argued that the officer who ordered the murder insisted that the victim was talking on his cell phone and was locating the position of the Russians to help the Ukrainian forces.
The court did not even consider sincere the remorse of the accused who asked for the forgiveness of the widow of the man killed.
The soldier’s lawyer, Victor Ovsyanikov, argued that his client, a member of a Russian unit eventually captured by the Ukrainians, was “unprepared for the violent military confrontation” and the mass dead and wounded Russian troops encountered. when they invaded Ukraine.
Moscow said it was concerned about the situation of Sergeant Shishimarin: “Of course we are worried about the fate of our citizen. Unfortunately, we are unable to defend his interests on the pitch. This is due to the factual lack of operations of our institutions [in Ucraina]. But this does not mean that we will stop considering ways to continue our efforts through other channels, ”said Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov.