The accused Russian soldier Vadim Shishimarin in the courthouse in Kyiv on Monday.
Image: Reuters
The first verdict since the beginning of the war has been passed in Ukraine, and a tank commander has been sentenced to life imprisonment. The convict claims he was pushed into action: “I didn’t want to kill.”
The courtroom was crowded. For the first time after three months of war, a Russian soldier was convicted in Ukraine on Monday. He faces life imprisonment for murder. His name is Vadim Shishimarin, age: 21 years.
Gerhard Gnauck
Political correspondent for Poland, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania based in Warsaw.
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Shishimarin came to Ukraine as a tank commander. During a retreat towards the Russian border, he shot and killed a pensioner named Olexander Shelipov, aged 62.
Shishimarin’s way back to Russia was anything but easy. Apparently, therefore, he and his comrades decided to go into captivity with the Ukrainians. His crime soon came out and he was charged. When the verdict was read out in the Kiev court, Shishimarin, a closely cropped young man with a snub nose, in a hooded sweatshirt and with his head bowed, stood behind a glass pane in the courtroom. When the sentence was announced, his head sank even lower on his chest.