Could war crime assassin be sent back to Russia in a prisoner swap?
THE baby-faced Russian tank commander who murdered an innocent grandfather in Ukraine smirked in the dock yesterday as it emerged he could be sent home in a prisoner swap.
Sergeant Vadim Shishimarin, 21, hung his head and begged for ‘forgiveness’ when he was cross-examined by the widow of Oleksandr Shelypov, 62, whom he shot in the head with an AK-47 assault rifle on the fifth day of Russia’s invasion.
But the dead-eyed killer grinned after prosecutors revealed that two of his comrades – who had been due to give evidence against him – had been sent back to Russia in a prisoner swap.
The case was adjourned for sentencing today, with Shishimarin facing life behind bars.
News of a possible deal with Moscow emerged when Mr Shelypov’s widow Kateryna told judges she would approve of swapping Shishimarin for Ukrainians captured in the Azovstal factory in Mariupol.
The 61-year-old said: ‘I want him to get life, but if he is exchanged for defenders of the Azovstal, our boys from Mariupol, I will not mind. I will not be against it.’
Russian forces are holding more than 1,700 Ukrainian fighters who had been living in tunnels at the plant this week following a twomonth siege that has made them national heroes. Kyiv said it was negotiating an exchange of the fighters for Russian prisoners.
But Russia has not confirmed that a swap will take place, amid suggestions that Putin may put the Ukrainians on trial.
In a tense exchange at Kyiv’s Appeal Court, Mrs Shelypova confronted her husband’s killer, demanding: ‘Tell me what did you feel when you killed my husband? Do you repent of this crime?’
He replied: ‘I admit my guilt. I understand you can’t forgive me. I ask for your forgiveness.’
Mrs Shelpova said: ‘Tell me please, why did you come here? To protect us? From whom? From my husband who you killed?’
Shishimarin responded: ‘We were just following our orders.’ Prosecutors showed the judges three AK47s – including the murder weapon – that they said were seized from Shishimarin and his comrades after their arrest.
The court heard that Mr Shelypov – a former KGB bodyguard – was pushing his bicycle home and speaking on his phone when he was shot yards from his front door on February 28 in the north-eastern village of Chupakhivk.
Giving evidence in court for the first time, Shishimarin said he was in the rear of a stolen Volkswagen Passat as he and other Russian troops fled a Ukrainian ambush.
They had come under attack while trying to evacuate troops from his unit who had been injured by another Russian tank in a socalled friendly fire incident.
He said an officer ‘screamed’ at
‘I shot him with an automatic burst’
him to shoot Mr Shelypov, adding: ‘I did not want to. He started to say in a forceful tone that I should shoot. He was saying I was going to put us all in danger if I don’t. I shot him at short range with an automatic burst. It killed him. I did not want to kill him. I shot him so they would leave me alone.’
As they approached the next village they were attacked by a band of villagers armed with hunting rifles. Shishimarin said the officer who had ordered him to murder Mr Shelypov was killed.
The survivors hid overnight before handing themselves in.
His account was backed by Russian PoW Ivan Maltisov, 20, who said: ‘Vadim did not want to shoot the civilian, but the officer was shouting at him, saying we would all die because of his inaction, so he fired three or four rounds.’