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Vadim Shishimarin during the trial
On Friday, the first court session was held in Kyiv in the case of Russian Vadim Shishimarin, who is charged with the murder of an unarmed civilian in the Sumy region. This is the first trial of a Russian military man for crimes on the territory of Ukraine.
21-year-old Shishimarin was charged under the article “Violation of the laws and customs of war” of the Ukrainian Criminal Code. According to the prosecutor’s office, on February 28, in the urban-type settlement of Chupakhovka, Sumy region, he shot at an unarmed elderly man who was riding a bicycle along the side of the road.
Shishimarin is being held in custody after being captured and is personally involved in the process. He faces up to 10-15 years in prison or life imprisonment.
Hearing of the first case on Russian war crimes began in Kyiv
The defendant has been provided with a lawyer, Viktor Ovsyannikov, who, according to Agence France-Presse, considers the position of the prosecution convincing.
Sources in the prosecutor’s office say that the guilt of the defendant is proved by the results of examinations and testimonies.
In particular, at the disposal of the investigation is Shishimarin’s weapon, from which the shot was fired – an AK-74 assault rifle.
Ukrainian media quoted prosecutor Yaroslav Uschapivsky as saying that the Russian serviceman had pleaded guilty and was cooperating with the investigation. However, the suspect’s lawyer has not yet confirmed this – he will make a statement on this matter later.
Commander of the Kantemirovskaya division
On May 4, the SBU released a video in which Shishimarin talks about what happened. According to him, before the incident, the convoy of Russian equipment was fired upon by the Ukrainian army. Retreating, he and four other Russian soldiers seized someone’s car, which had previously been fired upon, and drove to the village for help.
On the way, they saw a man who was talking on the phone and, according to Ukrainian Prosecutor General Irina Venediktova, was driving a bicycle along the side of the road.
“I was ordered to shoot, and I fired one round at him, he fell. We drove on,” the sergeant says in the video.
According to Venediktova, the military ordered the sergeant to kill this man so that he would not tell Ukrainian soldiers about them. According to prosecutors, a 62-year-old man died a few dozen meters from his home.
Shishimarin served as a squad leader in the 4th Panzer Kantemirovskaya Division of the Moscow Region.
The first meeting was short. In fact, it was devoted to procedural subtleties. The prosecutor asked the court to hold the process in open mode.
The next substantive meeting will take place on May 18.
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