New Delhi: A court in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv has held a 21-year-old Russian soldier guilty of war crimes and sentenced him to life in prison.
Vadim Shysimarin has become the first Russian soldier to be convicted of war crimes.
He was held guilty of killing a 62-year-old man in the northeastern village of Chupakhivka in Sumy in the early days of the Russian invasion.
According to the prosecution, Shysimarin was with a group of Russian troops that had driven into the village in a stolen car. The car’s wheels were punctured as the vehicle had come under Ukrainian fire.
When they saw the victim cycling by the road – apparently a few metres from his home – one of the soldiers ordered Shysimarin to kill him so that the man could not report them to the Ukrainian army.
“I was ordered to shoot,” Shysimarin said of the killing on 28 February. “I shot one (round) at him. He falls. And we kept on going.” The elderly man died on the spot when the Russian shot him in the head with a Kalashnikov.
At the second hearing of the four-day trial, Shysimarin had said he was “truly and sincerely sorry”, and asked the victim’s widow for forgiveness.
More than 10,000 war crimes have been registered with Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office so far.
Last week, the attorneys general of the US, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand joined their Ukraine counterpart Iryna Vendiktova “in ensuring accountability for war crimes committed during the Russian invasion”.
US Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement: “We support the pursuit of justice by Ukraine… in order to ensure prompt, fair and effective investigation and prosecution of such offences under Ukrainian, domestic or international law.
“We join in condemning the Russian Government for its actions, and call upon it to cease all violations of international law, to halt its illegal invasion and to cooperate in efforts to achieve accountability.
“We look forward to working together with the Prosecutor General and her Office to ensure every perpetrator faces justice.”
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