During the trial last week, Vadim Chichimarine said he was “sincerely sorry” and “asked forgiveness” from the victim's widow, justifying his action by the “orders” received at that time.
The 21-year-old soldier, who has been appearing in a Ukrainian court since Wednesday, was sentenced to life in prison on Monday after shooting a 62-year-old civilian man, Oleksandre Chelipov, in northeastern Ukraine. start of the invasion.
The prosecutor had requested life imprisonment.
"He was carrying out a criminal order and was well aware of it," said one of the prosecutors about this man, the first Russian soldier tried for a war crime in Ukraine.
Breaking - Vadim Shishimarin found guilty of killing a civilian and sentenced to life in prison pic.twitter.com/MdupZYIHzW
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“Given all the evidence and testimony, I believe that Mr. Chichimarine is not guilty of the crime with which he is accused,” said his lawyer Viktor Ovsiannykov, pleading Friday for acquittal.
He assured that his client, from Irkutsk in Siberia, did not want to carry out the order to shoot, arguing that he had not obeyed in the first time.
The defense also stressed that he had surrendered voluntarily to the Ukrainian forces and did not deny the facts.
"I didn't want to kill"
“I am sincerely sorry,” also said the accused, who acknowledges the facts and says he obeyed a superior.
“I regret what I did (…) I was nervous in this situation.
I didn't want to kill."
Speaking in Russian, the soldier had an interpreter at his side who translated to him the words of other participants held in Ukrainian.
According to the prosecution, Vadim Chichimarine was commanding a small unit within a tank division when his convoy was attacked.
With four other soldiers, he then stole a car.
As they were driving near the village of Choupakhivka, in the Sumy region (northeast), they had crossed paths with Oleksandre Chelipov, who was pushing his bicycle while telephoning, before Vadim Chichimarin shot him dead.
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