Russian soldier on trial asks sufferer’s widow to forgive him

Sgt. Vadim Shishimarin instructed the court docket that the officer insisted that the Ukrainian man, who was talking on his cellphone, might pinpoint their location to the Ukrainian forces.

The 21-year-old sergeant might get life in jail if convicted of capturing the Ukrainian man within the head by way of an open automotive window in a village within the northeastern Sumy area on Feb. 28, 4 days into the Russian invasion.

Looking subdued, Shishimarin mentioned he at first disobeyed his instant commanding officer’s order to shoot the unarmed civilian however had no different selection however to observe the order when it was repeated forcefully by one other officer.
Shishimarin pleaded responsible to the costs throughout Wednesday’s listening to.

On Thursday, he requested the sufferer’s widow, who additionally appeared within the trial, to forgive him for what he did.

“I realize that you can’t forgive me, but I’m pleading you for forgiveness,” Shishimarin mentioned.

The lady, Kateryna Shelipova, mentioned her 62-year-old husband, Oleksandr Shelipov, acquired out to verify what was happening when gunshots rang simply outdoors their residence. When the capturing ceased shortly after, she walked out and located her husband shot lifeless simply outdoors their residence.

“He was all to me. He was my defender,” she mentioned.

Shelipova instructed the court docket that Shishimarin deserves a life sentence for killing her husband however added that she wouldn’t thoughts if he’s exchanged as a part of a potential prisoner swap with Russia for the surrendered Ukrainian defenders of the Azovstal metal plant in Mariupol.

Russian soldier Vadim Shishimarin, 21, suspected of violations of the legal guidelines and norms of struggle, is seen inside a defendants’ cage throughout a court docket listening to, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine May 18, 2022. (Reuters)

The prosecutor requested for a life sentence for Shishimarin and the trial adjourned till Friday.

Shishimarin, a captured member of a Russian tank unit, is being prosecuted underneath a bit of the Ukrainian legal code that addresses the legal guidelines and customs of struggle.

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova beforehand mentioned her workplace was readying struggle crimes circumstances towards 41 Russian troopers for offenses that included bombing civilian infrastructure, killing civilians, rape and looting. It was not instantly clear how most of the suspects are in Ukrainian palms and what number of could be tried in absentia.

As the inaugural war-crimes case in Ukraine, Shishimarin’s prosecution was being watched carefully. Investigators have been accumulating proof of potential struggle crimes to convey earlier than the International Criminal Court in The Hague.