For Ukraine, the process is of great symbolic importance. According to their own statements, the Ukrainian authorities are now investigating more than 10,000 cases of possible war crimes related to the Russian invasion. A crucial question will be to what extent the Ukrainian judiciary will be able to guarantee neutral proceedings despite the circumstances. The case now being negotiated in Kyiv will provide a first impression here.
The accused was brought before the court for the first time on Friday in a small courtroom of the Solomyanka district court. With great media interest, he sat down in a small glass hut for a preliminary hearing. According to Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office, the accused is Vadim S., a 21-year-old soldier of the Kantemirovskaya Armored Division from the Moscow region. He faces charges of “violating the laws and norms of war.”
Charge: Fatal shots from car
The soldier is said to have shot and killed an unarmed 62-year-old civilian on February 28 in the village of Chupakhivka, east of the capital Kyiv. In the first days of the Ukrainian war of aggression, the defendant’s armored division advanced in the direction of Kyiv. When the column was attacked by Ukrainian forces, S. and four other soldiers stole a car to escape, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office said. The Russian soldiers went to the village of Chupakhivka.
There, according to the indictment, they met an unarmed resident who was riding his bike and talking on his cell phone. The suspect then received the order to kill the civilian. The soldiers wanted to prevent the Ukrainian civilian from revealing their presence. S. fired several shots through the open window of the car at the man’s head with an assault rifle. The victim was dead on the spot.
Trial adjourned to next week
On May 4, the Ukrainian secret service SBU published a video in which S. admitted to having shot the civilian. “I was ordered to shoot,” he said on the recording. “I shot one (shot) at him. He fell. And we continued.” However, the Russian soldier was not questioned in court on Friday. The judges and attorneys briefly discussed procedural issues. According to Ukrainian media reports, the trial was finally adjourned to Wednesday at the request of the public prosecutor’s office in order to make it publicly available.
Kyiv: Russian soldier in court
A trial against a Russian soldier has begun in Kyiv. The 21-year-old is accused of serious war crimes. According to the indictment, he shot dead a 61-year-old civilian through an open car window after he saw a group of Russian soldiers stealing a car.
One of the largest Ukrainian human rights groups has already announced that it will monitor the process closely. They want to ensure that the rights of the accused are protected, said Volodymyr Yavorsky, coordinator of the Center for Civil Liberties in Kyiv. Compliance with the rules and norms of the process “will determine how similar cases will be treated in the future,” Yavorsky said.
Russian withdrawal brought atrocities to light
Russia faces widespread allegations that its army committed war crimes in numerous locations after invading Ukraine on February 24. Many of the alleged atrocities have come to light over the past month. The Moscow forces had then completed their attempt to take Kyiv and retreated from the capital’s environs.
In the places previously occupied by Russian troops, Ukrainian forces and authorities found numerous bodies and mass graves. Russia has so far denied targeting civilians or being involved in war crimes – and spoke of “slander”.
Preliminary investigation into “premeditated murder”
As it became known on Thursday, the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office opened another investigation into the “premeditated murder” of Ukrainian civilians. According to Ukrainian investigators, Russian soldiers fired on a residential building from a tank in the village of Stepanky in the Kharkiv region on March 27, killing two men and a woman.
On Thursday, international media also published a video apparently showing the killing of unarmed Ukrainians by Russian soldiers. Surveillance camera footage shows armed men in Russian uniforms pulling up at a car dealership near Kyiv in a van daubed with a V-sign used by the Russian armed forces.
After exiting the car, they spoke to an apparently unarmed security guard. After what appeared to be a relaxed conversation, they parted ways. A short time later, two of the suspected Russian soldiers returned and shot the guard and his superior in the back. Both men succumbed to their injuries.
UN Human Rights Council investigates possible crimes
Alleged Russian war crimes were also the subject of a special session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday, to which the Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Shaparova joined via video. “Thousands have lost their lives in my country. The bombings and Russian shelling have become part of our daily lives,” Shaparova said. “Torture, disappearances, sexual violence – the list of Russian crimes is endless.”
UN Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet said her staff were collecting and reviewing leads to crimes. “The scale of illegal executions, including evidence of mass executions, in the areas north of Kyiv is shocking,” she said. There is now information about 300 cases.
The UN body passed a resolution opening an investigation into the atrocities in Ukraine by a clear majority. 33 members of the council voted in favor of the move, with China and Eritrea voting against. Twelve other countries abstained.