Jubilee Post News & Views
Special Desk
A 21-year-old Russian tank commander has been sentenced for life for killing a civilian. The judgement comes from a court in Ukraine for a trial since the invasion started.
Russia, meanwhile, has said that it was concerned for the Russian soldier and would look at options to defend him. The soldier Sgt Vadim Shishimarin was convicted of killing Oleksandr Shelipov, 62, in the north-eastern village of Chupakhivka on February 28. He admitted shooting Shelipov but said he had been acting on orders and asked forgiveness of the man’s widow.
Many other alleged war crimes are being investigated by Ukraine. Moscow has denied its troops targeted civilians during the invasion, despite a wealth of evidence to the contrary, while Ukraine says more than 11,000 crimes may have occurred since the invasion started.
Imposing the life sentence, Judge Serhiy Agafonov said Shishimarin had carried out a criminal order by a soldier of higher rank.
“Given that the crime committed is a crime against peace, security, humanity and the international legal order… the court does not see the possibility of imposing a [shorter] sentence of imprisonment,” he said.Shishimarin, wearing a blue and grey hooded sweatshirt, watched proceedings silently from a reinforced glass box in the courtroom and showed no emotion as the verdict was read out. His lawyer said an appeal would be lodged against the verdict.
Shishimarin, served in Russia’s prestigious Kantemirovskaya tank division. At the time of the killing, he and other soldiers were travelling in a car they had seized after their convoy came under attack and they became separated from their unit.
When they spotted Shelipov he was speaking on his phone, Shishimarin told the court. He says he was told to shoot him with an assault rifle.
His defence lawyer told the court earlier on Friday that Shishimarin had only fired after twice refusing to carry out the order to shoot and that only one out of three to four rounds had hit the target.
He said Shishimarin had fired the rounds out of fear for his own safety and he questioned whether the defendant had intended to kill.
In one dramatic moment during the trial, the victim’s widow Kateryna Shelipova confronted Shishimarin. “Tell me please, why did you [Russians] come here? To protect us?” she asked, citing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s justification for the invasion of Ukraine.
