The war in Ukraine grinds on – and depressingly all the signs are that it will continue to do so with a significant casualty toll for some time to come. But the landmark legal event in the conflict over the last few days was last week’s life sentence for the first Russian convicted of war crimes in Ukraine since the war started.
Vadim Shishimarin, 21, commanded a Russian tank in the Kantemirovskaya armoured division. He was escaping Ukrainian artillery fire in a stolen civilian car with four other soldiers when they passed Oleksandr Shelypov riding his bicycle.
His group believed that Alex had been using his phone to give away their position. His defence lawyer, Viktor Ovsyannikov, said Shishimarin had fired three to four rounds at the unarmed civilian through his open car window after receiving an order to shoot him. He was captured by Ukrainian troops shortly afterwards.
Ovsyannikov said his client had been unprepared for the “violent military confrontation” and the heavy casualties his unit encountered when they invaded Ukraine. He said he would appeal the sentence.
Aarif Abraham, a British-based human rights lawyer, said the trial the was conducted “with what appears to be full and fair due process”. Although, “This is an extremely harsh sentence for one murder during the war...” Hundreds of bodies have been recovered for forensic examination across areas of Ukraine liberated from Russian occupation. Many bear signs of torture and rape.
The Ukrainian prosecutor-general, Iryna Venediktova, has said her office is investigating more than 11,000 potential war crimes committed by invading Russian soldiers. The International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague is sending a team of 42 investigators, forensics experts and support staff to the country.
Venediktova said: “By this first trial, we are sending a clear signal that every perpetrator, every person who ordered or assisted in the commission of crimes in Ukraine shall not avoid responsibility.”
Few outside Russia will bemoan the fate of Vadim Shishimarin.
However, international law experts will scrutinise the case of the 21-year-old tank commander. A key question is how much room for manoeuvre the Kyiv court has left itself for sentencing Russians for more heinous or numerous offences.
Shishimarin is a small cog in the Russian military operation. Even though President Putin or any of his circle are unlikely to face a court, members of the officer class who have fought on the battlefield could be tried.
If Shishimarin’s crime merited a life sentence, what punishment would a Ukrainian court — or the International Criminal Court in the Hague — hand to Colonel Azatbek Omurbekov, the alleged “Butcher of Bucha”?
The hard fact is that there has been a glut of alleged war crimes in Ukraine. And unlike almost any conflict before, conventional media have reported it in minute detail, their accounts topped up with social media from witnesses. There will be nowhere to hide from the due process of the law.