Legal precedent
: A captured Russian soldier was put on trial in Ukraine and admitted today (Wednesday) to committing a war crime in which he killed an unarmed civilian during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The captured soldier, a 21-year-old tank commander named Vadim Shishimrin, was put on trial in the capital Kyiv under heavy security and placed in a special cell with tempered glass.
When asked if he accepts responsibility for his actions he simply replied yes.
According to the details of the indictment, Shishimrin commanded a tank that was hit by Ukrainian fire during heavy fighting in the Sumy district in northern Ukraine.
Shishmarin and some of his commanders fled the scene of the attack on a confiscated civilian vehicle.
After traveling a few miles they encountered a 62-year-old Ukrainian citizen riding his bicycle.
Shishimrin's direct commander ordered him to fire on the civilian, a shooting that resulted in his immediate death.
Katrina Shlichova, the widow of the man whose name was not released, sat in front of the defendant during the trial.
"I really feel sorry for him, but I can not forgive him for the crime he committed," she told the media after the end of the legal process.
Shishmarin's sentence has not yet been handed down but the state estimates that he will be sent to a lengthy prison term in a military prison.
Katrina Shlichova, widow of the murdered man, Photo: Reuters
The state's chief prosecutor, Irina Wendiktova, tweeted: "In this first trial, we are sending a clear message to any perpetrator of a crime against humanity that anyone who commits or assists in the commission of a crime on Ukrainian soil will be held responsible for it."
In Moscow they claimed that the case was not known to the authorities and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the details of the incident were not known to him at all.
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