The 21-year-old non-commissioned officer recognized all the facts alleged against him on Wednesday, including the accusation of war crime and premeditated murder.
Le Monde with AFP
The first Russian soldier tried for war crime in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion pleaded guilty on Wednesday, May 18, recognizing all the facts alleged. Asked if he recognized the entire act “without reservation”, including the counts of war crime and premeditated murder, the 21-year-old non-commissioned officer, Vadim Chichimarine, replied ” yes “. He is accused of having killed a 62-year-old civilian on February 28 in northeast of Ukraine. This non-commissioned officer from Irkoutsk, Siberia, risks life prison.
Dressed in a blue and hooded khaki sweatshirt, the shaved skull, the non-commissioned officer with the chubby face held alone in his glass box, assisted by a translator in front of him in a small room of the court of the ‘ Arrondissement of Solomiansky, in kyiv.
“Death on the spot”
According to the accusation, Sergeant Vadim Chichimarine commanded a small unit in a tank division when his convoy was attacked. With four other soldiers, he then stole a car. As they circulated near the village of Tchoupakhivka, in the Soumy region (northeast), they had met a 62-year-old man, who pushed his bike while calling.
“One of the soldiers ordered the accused to kill the civilian so that he does not denounce them”, according to Ukrainian justice, who specifies that the man is “died instantly”, a few tens of meters from his home. In early May, the Ukrainian authorities announced the arrest of the military without giving details, while publishing a video in which Vadim Chichimarine said that they came to fight in Ukraine to “financially support his mother”.