War criminals. Kiev organizes first trial of Russian soldier
The war front has moved to the east and south of Ukraine, but in the north of Kiev the wound of the fighting is still bleeding and the government of Volodímir Zelensky is demanding justice for the abuses committed by the Russians. Local and international forensic teams from the UK, the Netherlands or France are working to identify bodies in towns like Bucha and Irpin, while a month and a half after the guns went quiet, there are funerals every day in their cemeteries. The authorities accuse Moscow of committing war crimes and are taking two steps forward by announcing the first trial of a Kremlin soldier and having the UN Human Rights Council pass a resolution to launch investigations.
These trials tend to be lengthy and the Attorney General’s office, Iryna Venediktova, announced yesterday that everything is ready to start the trial of Vadim Shishimarin, 21, who is accused of killing an unarmed 62-year-old civilian who he shot from the window of his car on the northern front of Kiev. The events took place on Feb. 28 when Shishimarin and four other companions stole a car in the suburbs of Chupakhivka, according to the prosecutor’s statement. From that vehicle, the young Russian soldier allegedly shot the civilian, who was shot just a few meters from his home. He risks a life sentence. Venediktova’s office has received reports of more than 10,000 suspected war crimes, with 622 suspects identified.
In the morgue of Bucha, a town north of Kiev that is sadly famous for the bodies that appeared to have been dumped in the streets after the liberation, relatives are lining up. They wait their turn to identify their loved ones and then take them to the cemetery for burial. The bodies are kept in large refrigerated trucks parked in the back.
Ludmila, 55, waits for forensic teams to hand over her son. When the war broke out, he left the country to take refuge in the Czech Republic and has just returned to Bucha. “Danilo was 35 years old and was shot dead the day before the retreat. The neighbors buried him in the garden, but after that the police exhumed his body and took it to the morgue,” says the mother with integrity. In his hand he carries an official document about the death of Danilo, the deceased number 346, according to the count of the authorities.
This family, like almost all, has managed to locate their loved ones thanks to Telegram channels especially open to sharing information about the disappeared. They sent them photos of the body and contacted police to confirm it was the person they were looking for.
After an hour of waiting, the forensic experts give Ludmila permission to go to the refrigerated truck. As the door opens, a stench of rotting bodies takes over the room and the operator covers his mouth and nose with his hand. Ludmila remains steadfast. The zipper on bag 346 slides and the mother peeks out.
-“Da” (yes)-, is all he says.
The zipper clicks again and within a minute the young man’s body is already in a coffin on the way to the cemetery. The municipality of Bucha bears all the costs of the funeral.
Sasha, 57, is also waiting for the remains of her older brother, Sergei, to be handed over. “His house was hit by a projectile and was destroyed. The Russians took his body and that of other neighbors to a nearby forest and we found them there. I was only able to identify him by a tattoo on his arm, that’s all,” said Sasha, who wants to finish the paperwork as soon as possible to hold the funeral and reassure her 85-year-old mother. “Now he has decided that he has died, but I will never tell him in what condition the body was found,” he says between cigarettes.
Outside the morgue, Bucha paints a picture of apparent normality. The dozens of charred skeletons of tanks and armored vehicles have been removed from the vicinity of the station and on Yablonska Street, residents are walking along the sidewalks on which the occupation has left dozens of bodies. Life returns, but Ukraine does not forget and asks for justice.
Source: La Verdad
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