Last month, Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old Russian soldier, was jailed for life. His sentence marked the first successful war-crimes prosecution since the conflict in Ukraine began.
On the fourth day of the invasion, after coming under fire, Shishimarin and four other soldiers hijacked a car and drove around looking for other units to join. They stopped in the north-eastern village of Chupakhivka where they came across 62-year-old Oleksandr Shelipov. Fearing he might share their location, Shishimarin shot him.
Captured by Ukrainian troops, Shishimarin pleaded guilty in court, but said he was acting on orders. Shelipov’s widow was in court and addressed the killer directly: ‘Tell me please, why did you [Russians] come here? To protect us? Did you protect me from my husband, whom you killed?’
The trial was the start of an historic exercise: the prosecution of war crimes while the war is going on, with a timetable faster than most countries manage during peace.
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