Life sentence requested for Russian soldier in trial
KYIV: Ukrainian prosecutors on Thursday requested a life sentence for the first Russian soldier on trial for war crimes since the start of Moscow’s invasion, AFP journalists in the courtroom reported.
The prosecution asked the judge to sentence the 21-yearold Russian army sergeant to “life imprisonment” for killing 62-year-old civilian Oleksandr Shelipov in the first days of the Russian offensive.
The request came just a day after the landmark trial opened and as two other Russian soldiers were in court on Thursday for crimes against civilians.
Kyiv says it has opened thousands of war crimes cases since Moscow launched its attack.
In court, Russian serviceman Vadim Shishimarin asked the victim’s widow to forgive him and described how he shot the man dead in the opening days of Russia’s attack.
Addressing his victim’s widow,
Kateryna Shelipova, Shishimarin said: “I know that you will not be able to forgive me, but nevertheless I ask you for forgiveness.”
He said he shot Shelipov as he and several other Russian soldiers were retreating to rejoin their units in Russia, saying another soldier had put pressure on him to carry out the killing.
‘I SHOT HIM AT SHORT RANGE’
The soldiers found a civilian car, a Volkswagen, which they hijacked to “get to where our army was and go back to Russia”, Shishimarin said.
“As we were driving, we saw a man. He was talking on the phone. He said he would give us up.”
Shishimarin said another soldier in the car, who he said was not his commander and whom he called an “unknown” soldier, “told me to shoot”.
“He started to say in a forceful tone that I should shoot,” he told the court.
“He said I would be putting us in danger if I didn’t. I shot him at short range. It killed him.”
Judges questioned him in Ukrainian, with an interpreter translating for Shishimarin -- who is from the Siberian region of Irkutsk -- into Russian.