A Ukrainian widow, on Thursday, 20 May, confronted and spoke directly to a Russian soldier, who pleaded guilty to killing her husband, in a courtroom in Kyiv.
Kateryna Shelipova broke down in tears on the witness stand, as she addressed the Russian sergeant housed in a glass box used to hold defendants, according to reports from NPR.
"What did you feel when you killed my husband?" she said. "Tell me, please."
"Fear. I understand you probably won't be able to forgive me. But I ask for your forgiveness," said the Russian soldier, Vadim Shishimarin, 21.
Shishimarin's trial marks the first war crimes trial in Ukraine since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and has garnered widespread attention. Over 100 journalists arrived, overwhelming the small courtroom and forcing authorities to move to a larger courthouse on Thursday.
The soldier has been accused of firing shots at a civilian from a car on orders.
When asked if he was obliged to follow the order that was tantamount to a war crime, Shishimarin replied in the negative.
Even though Shishimarin pleaded guilty on Wednesday, Ukrainian prosecutors chose to introduce evidence and call witnesses on Thursday. Apart from Shelipova, a fellow Russian soldier of Shishimarin was also called to the witness stand.
What Did Shishimarin's Fellow Soldier Say?
The soldier, Ivan Maltisov, testified to stealing a Volkswagen Passat to drive through the village after an armoured vehicle carrying multiple Russian soldiers broke down on 20 February, 2022, just a few days into Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Maltisov said they saw Oleksandr Shelipov (62) walking and talking on his phone, and grew fearful of their position being revealed. Maltisov further testified that it was only after an argument with other soldiers that Shishimarin fired several rounds out the window from the back seat of the car, hitting the victim in the head and killing him instantly, according to BBC.
Prosecutors have asked the judge to sentence the accused to life imprisonment, reported The Guardian.
'I Screamed So Much,' Says Shelipova
On Thursday, Shelipova described running over to her husband and finding him dead. “I ran over to my husband, he was already dead. Shot in the head. I screamed, I screamed so much,” she said, according to The Guardian.
Shalipova has claimed that her husband was unarmed and dressed in civilian clothes when the incident took place. The couple has a 27-year-old son and two grandchildren.
When asked what an appropriate sentence for the Russian soldier would be, Shelipov said life in prison, but added after that she supports trading the Russian for Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered to Russia at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol this week.
Unlike the traditional practice of conducting war crimes trials post-conflict at international bodies like the International Criminal Court, Ukraine says that it has already identified over 11,000 possible Russian war crimes. Kyiv believes that a delay in trials will lead to evidence becoming cold and witnesses would become harder to track.
Russia, however, has denied that it targeted civilians or committed war crimes.
(With inputs from BBC, The Guardian, and NPR)
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