His youthful face appeared on Friday to cameras around the world, during a preliminary hearing. Vadim Chichimarine, a 21-year-old Russian soldier with a shaved head and gray and blue jogging, arrived handcuffed at the small Solomiansky district court in Ukraine. He is on trial from Wednesday May 18 for a war crime. This is the first trial of its kind in Ukraine since the entry of Russian troops into its territory. Franceinfo comes back in four questions on the key elements of this trial.
1Why is this trial taking place now?
Since the beginning of the conflict, on February 24, many NGOs, civilians but also States have been mobilizing to gather evidence of Russian abuses, so that those responsible can be judged quickly. They are accused of multiple war crimes in the occupied territories in Ukraine, in particular in the suburbs of kyiv, from where the troops withdrew at the end of March.
While several investigations have already been opened by international courts, such as the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the UN Human Rights Council, Ukrainian national courts are also investigating. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced in early April that a “special mechanism” would be created for “investigate all the crimes of the occupiers in [le] country and prosecute them”. “Never in wartime have we had so many investigations at the same time”analysis on franceinfo Reed Brody, member of the International Commission of Jurists, specialist in the defense of human rights.
As pointed out The Parisianthe crime of which Vadim Chichimarine is accused is the first among a list of 11,846 others identified by kyiv. According to the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office, it was committed on February 28, four days after the fighting began.
Proof of Ukrainian determination not to waste time on a judicial level: two Russian soldiers should be tried from Thursday for having fired rockets at civilian infrastructure in the region of Kharkiv, the country’s second largest city, in the north -is.
2What is Vadim Chichimarine accused of?
Despite his young age, Vadim Chichimarine, originally from Irkutsk in Siberia, was a unit commander in a tank division based in the Moscow region. He is accused of shooting a 62-year-old unarmed civilian with a Kalashnikov from the window of a car he was traveling in on February 28. According to the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office, the soldier was traveling with four other soldiers after the attack on their convoy. They had stolen a car near the village of Choupakhivka, in the Sumy region, in the northeast of the country.
The victim – who has not been identified – was riding a bicycle on the side of the road not far from his home and died instantly. “One of the soldiers ordered the accused to kill the civilian so that he would not report them”said the office of the general prosecutor, Iryna Venediktova.
The Ukrainian authorities had announced the arrest of Vadim Chichimarine at the beginning of May without giving details, while publishing a video in which he said he had come to fight in Ukraine to “support his mother financially”. Regarding the charges against him, he explained: “I received the order to shoot, I shot him once. He fell and we continued on our way.”
3What penalty does he incur?
The soldier may well have acted, according to his words, on the orders of a superior, he faces life imprisonment for war crimes and premeditated murder. “He understands the charges against him”, his lawyer, Viktor Ovsiannikov, told AFP, without revealing his defense strategy. According to the Ukrainian authorities, he cooperates with the investigators and admits the facts.
The prosecutor, Yaroslav Ouchtchapivski, for his part told the Ukrainian media Ukrainska Pravda that the Russian soldier had pleaded guilty and repented.
Why is this trial worth a test in Ukraine?
This trial, which should soon be followed by several others, is a test for the Ukrainian judicial system. The file is difficult, recognizes the lawyer of Vadim Chichimarine. “We have never had such a charge in Ukraine, we have no precedents, no verdict”he pointed out. “But we will get there”added Viktor Ovsiannikov, assuring that he had not noticed “no violation of rights” of the accused by the authorities.
How to avoid making this trial a propaganda tool and preserve the impartiality of justice? “Ukraine wants to oppose the law, the law to weapons (…) If Ukraine wants to use the weapon of law, it must be used really to perfection”analysis on franceinfo the specialist Reed Brody.
“This trial must take place in a fair, exemplary, transparent manner. It is one of the most important trials, because it will give an idea of how Ukrainian justice can function at the moment.”
Reed Brody, member of the International Commission of Juristson franceinfo
Reed Body is surprised, however, that kyiv chose “the case of a little soldier” to conduct this first trial. “He admitted facts. But the facts are that he received orders. This is not an obvious case. What was his obligation?” he continues.
The Attorney General also pointed out, in a series of posts on Twitterthe issue at stake for his country. “We have opened more than 11,000 war crimes investigations and arrested 40 suspects”, recalled Iryna Venediktova. While waiting for them to arrive in court, “with this first trial, we send a clear signal: no executioner, no person who ordered or helped to commit crimes in Ukraine will escape justice.”