In Kiev, the first trial for “war crime”

Released today at 05:34, updated at 07:08

For a few days in Ukraine there was a face of war crimes: a 21-year-old Russian sergeant Vadim Szymerin, a child with almost no beard and excellent features. He was killed when an AK-74 exploded in the Ukrainian village near Sumi in the northeast of the country, killing a dealer who was pushing his bicycle. The man died a few meters from his home, he was unarmed, according to 62-year-old attorney general Irina Venidikova. Sergeant Chichimarine was arrested while trying to escape with four other soldiers. It was February 28, 2022, the fourth day of the war. Within three months of the invasion, 1,000 contradictions in the Sichimarine file had been settled, and the first trial for war crimes was held on Wednesday, May 18, in a district court in Kiev – not in Ukraine. Special Court.

This is only the beginning of a long process: the Attorney General’s Office says it has already identified more than 12,000 war crimes cases. Judging ordinary military personnel – even before prosecuting high-ranking officials – is rare internationally for such acts. The fact that more fighting is unleashed in the country is even more exceptional.

The Russian sergeant’s Ukrainian lawyer, court clerk Viktor Ovsyanikov, like many of his colleagues, has extensive experience in cases that have dragged on for years. “It simply came to our notice then. he said. It should start as soon as possible, everyone here understands. ⁇ In this hybrid war, wars are fought as fiercely on the information front as they are on the armed front. In Moscow, Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, The leading intelligence agency is working full-time on alleged Ukrainian war crimes. “We have to go faster than them to establish the facts and not allow them to establish their fiction”, Says the Ukrainian magistrate. Today, the whole country seems to be in the race for real-time war investigations. Immediate justice.

“Lots of self-organization”

In Borodianka, 15,000 civilians were transferred to a school by local judicial services after the bombings dusted off most of the city, on the outskirts of Kiev. Women wait on a bench in front of a geography class. “Here, every head has its own misfortune”, Said one. Assistant lawyer Tamara Kaspanova piled her files on the editor’s desk, in the middle of world maps. When Russian tanks arrived on March 3, she took her computer with her on a flight to the west. The next day, she started doing “Phone” On his own initiative, as if the matter had gone unsaid. “I’m not alone, She immediately screams. Here, everything works that way, a lot of self-organization, no need to wait for orders from above. ⁇

You should read 60.13% of this article. The following are for subscribers only.