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The first Russian soldier tried for war crimes in Ukraine: “I regret it. He was nervous, he didn’t want to kill”

Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old Russian soldier facing Ukraine’s first trial for war crimes during the Russian invasion of the country in a kyiv court, told the court on Friday that he did not want to kill an unarmed civilian and that he sincerely regrets having done it. These were the last words he spoke at the hearing, where he pleaded guilty on Wednesday to murdering Oleksandr Shelipov, a 62-year-old civilian, in the village of Chupajivka, in northeastern Ukraine, on February 28. .

“I sincerely regret it. I was nervous at the time, I didn’t want to kill… that’s how it happened,” said Shishimarin, who yesterday, Thursday, apologized to Shelipov’s widow. The soldier is accused of firing several shots with an assault rifle at the head of a civilian from a car after several fellow soldiers ordered him to do so.

According to the Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office, on February 28 Shishimarin was part of an armored division in the surroundings of the town of Chupajivka. After his column was shot at by Ukrainian forces, he and four of his companions stole a car and headed into town, where they met Oleksandr Shelipov on a bicycle. The prosecutor has accused Shishimarin of shooting the man in the head through the car window so that he would not report his movements, following the recommendation of a colleague.

Defense lawyer Viktor Ovsiannikov has told the court that Shishimarin only pulled the trigger after twice refusing to carry out the order to fire and that only one of the three or four shots hit the target. Ovsiannikov has argued that Shishimarin shot out of fear for his own safety and has questioned whether the accused intended to kill. “He was sitting by the window of a car … the car was moving at high speed with a flat tire,” Ovsiannikov has said. “I conclude that Shishimarin fired aimlessly and did not intend to kill the civilian, and that he carried out the order not with the aim of killing the person, but with the hope that [los disparos] they will not impact [en el civil]”, has said.

The lawyer has defended that it should not be the 21-year-old soldier who sits on the defendant’s bench, “but the high command of the other country”: “I think he is guilty of unleashing this war.”

However, the state prosecutor, Andriy Siniuk, has said that the defense arguments do not change the essence of the case. “The court will analyze all the evidence and announce its decision. The defense arguments in no way refute what we have said and do not refute Shishimarin’s own guilt”, he has defended.

The judge may deliver a verdict on Monday, when the court reconvenes. The state prosecutor has asked the court to sentence Shishimarin to life in prison. (Reuters and EL PAÍS)

In the photograph, which is from Roman Hrytsynafrom the Associated Press agency, the Russian soldier Vadim Shishimarin, Thursday in kyiv during the celebration of his trial, in which he is accused of war crimes.