Russian soldier jailed for life over Ukraine war crime

A court in Ukraine has jailed a Russian tank commander for life for killing a civilian at the first war crimes trial since the invasion.

Captured soldier Sgt Vadim Shishimarin was convicted of killing Oleksandr Shelipov, 62, in the north-eastern village of Chupakhivka on 28 February.

He admitted shooting Mr Shelipov but said he had been acting on orders and asked forgiveness of his widow.

Multiple 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.

Moscow said earlier on Monday that it was concerned at the fate of the Russian soldier and would look at options to defend him.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov noted, however, that Russia did “not have the capacity to protect his interests in person”. Russia’s embassy in Kyiv is currently closed.

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 was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.

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, Reuters notes.

His lawyer said an appeal would be lodged against the verdict.

Shishimarin, 21, 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 Mr 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 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.

Source: BBC