成人快手

A 21-year-old Russian soldier has pleaded guilty to killing an unarmed civilian, in the first war crimes trial in Ukraine since the war started. Vadim Shishimarin admitted shooting a 62-year-old man a few days after the invasion began. He faces life in jail. Ukrainian prosecutors say there are thousands of war crimes cases in the pipeline. At the same time, there is an investigation into alleged war crimes by the International Criminal Court in progress. On Tuesday, a team of more than 40 people arrived in Ukraine to start gathering evidence on the ground.

Olympia Bekou, a Professor of Public International Law at the University of Nottingham here in the UK, says it is not unusual for a case to to be heard so early in a war, and she thinks this case is relatively straightforward. She says that the ICC on the other hand, rather than focusing on individual soldiers, will focus on people who are "higher up in the chain" but this could take many years of work.

"As far as war crimes cases go, this is a pretty straightforward one. The facts appear to be simple, the accused is present on Ukrainian territory, the weapons was seized, witness recognise him, and he has pleaded guilty."

Photo: Russian serviceman Vadim Shishimarin attends a court hearing in the Solomyansky district court in Kyiv, Ukraine, 18 May 2022 Credit: Reuters

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