First Russian soldier soon to be brought to justice for war crimes in Ukraine | War in Ukraine

Vadim Shishimarin, 21, will stand trial for war crimes and premeditated murder, the office of Ukraine’s Attorney General Iryna Venediktova said in a statement on Wednesday.

We learn that the Russian soldier will be accused after an investigation by the Ukrainian secret service (SBU) after events that occurred on February 28 in Chupakhivka, in the Sumy region, in the north-east of the country.

According to this investigation, Private Shishimarin and four other soldiers had just stolen a car near Chupakhivka to flee after their convoy had been attacked by Ukrainian fighters.

The group, however, feared being denounced when they came across a 62-year-old man who was riding alongside his bicycle while talking on the phone along a road. The man was unarmed, according to the SBU investigation.

One of the soldiers ordered the accused to kill a civilian so that he would not report themsays the statement from the Attorney General’s office. The man died on the spot, only a few dozen meters from his home.

The Attorney General did not indicate how Private Shishimarin was arrested or how the evidence was collected in this case. The date of the trial has not been revealed either. However, it released a photo of the suspect, his face blurred.

” Shishimarin is physically in Ukraine. The trial we are starting will not take place in absentia, but in the presence of the person who killed a civilian. And it’s a war crime. »

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, more than 10,700 alleged war crimes involving 622 suspects have been reported to the prosecutor’s office.

A few weeks ago, 10 Russian soldiers were accused by name of having committed war crimes in Boutcha, on the outskirts of kyiv, where the corpses of many civilians were found after the withdrawal of Russian troops. However, they are not detained by the Ukrainian authorities.

Kyiv demands accountability before the Human Rights Council

In Geneva, Ukraine and its allies took advantage of a special session of the United Nations Human Rights Council to denounce on Thursday the endless list abuses committed by Russia since the February 24 invasion.

At the end of the meeting, requested by Kyiv, the 47 Member States of the Council must vote on a draft resolution calling for a investigation of the international commission forUNUnited Nations on Ukraine.

The objective is to hold those responsible to account serious human rights violations attributed to Russian occupation troops in the regions of kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Sumy in late February and March 2022.

Thousands of people in my country have lost their lives. Russian bombings and shootings are part of our daily lifesaid the first Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Emine Dzhaparova, at the opening of the debates, in a video address.

Torture and enforced disappearances, sexual and gender-based violence, the list of Russian crimes is endlessshe denounced, before brandishing a sheet on which a little boy raped in front of his mother drew a whirlwind of black lines.

During the debates, many diplomats allied with kyiv, but also theUNUnited Nationsexpressed their horror and indignation at the suffering endured by Ukrainians. Russian aggression is accompanied by ever more gruesome and unsustainable discoveries every day.affirmed the French ambassador Jérôme Bonnafont, while his British counterpart denounced the brutal campaign led by Moscow.

The High Commissioner ofUNUnited Nations for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said her office continued to verify allegations of abuse, many of which may amount to war crimes. It currently has information on 300 cases, she said.

” The scale of unlawful executions, including indications of summary executions in areas north of Kyiv, is shocking. »

Ms Bachelet also denounced the unimaginable horrors suffered by the inhabitants of Mariupol, a city in southeastern Ukraine now almost entirely under Russian control.

The draft resolution also asks him to take stock of the humanitarian and human rights situation in the port city during the 50th session of the Council, which will take place from June 13 to July 8.

A first since the suspension of Moscow

This is the first meeting dedicated to the deterioration of the human rights situation in Ukraine since the General Assembly of theUNUnited Nations suspended Moscow at the beginning of April from the highest body of the international organization in the field of human rights.

Russia can participate in the work of the Council as an observer, but opted for an empty chair policy on Thursday and waived its right of reply.

In order not to leave the field completely to his adversaries, the Russian ambassador to theUNUnited Nations in Geneva, Gennadi Gatilov, issued a press release denouncing the demonization of Russia by the “collective West”speaking of an incriminating investigation and denouncing the excesses of the Council which has become a forum to make political stunts.

At the end of a first meeting, on March 4, Kyiv managed to have the Human Rights Council adopt by an overwhelming majority a resolution deciding to urgently create an independent international commission of inquiry.

Its chairman, Erik Mose, a former judge at the Supreme Court of Norway and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and who also presided over the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), indicated that the commission had started its work, even if it does not yet have a budget.

He also pointed out that the large number of entities currently investigating the situation in Ukraine is not without raising coordination issues.