A Ukrainian court has reduced the sentence for the first convicted Russian war criminal on appeal. Vadim Shishimarin was sentenced to 15 years in prison, the court said on Friday in Kyiv. In May, the judges sentenced the then 21-year-old to life imprisonment.
The young man had admitted shooting an unarmed 62-year-old man on a bicycle. He stressed that he acted under pressure from another soldier. The two were on their way back to Russian territory in a stolen car.
It was the first verdict in a war crimes trial after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Schishimarin’s lawyer had appealed because he believed the verdict had been influenced by societal pressures. (AFP)
