Two Russian soldiers pleaded guilty Thursday to war crimes during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The trial, which took place in Ukraine, is the second war crimes trial since the war began.
Driving the news: State officials asked that Alexander Bobykin and Alexander Ivanov be jailed for 12 years for violating the laws of war by shelling a town in Eastern Ukraine, per Reuters.
What they said: The report stated that their defense lawyers asked for tolerance, claiming that the soldiers were simply following orders.
- “I am completely guilty of the crimes of which I am accused. We fired at Ukraine from Russia,” Bobykin told the court, per Reuters.
- Ivanov said: “I repent and ask for a reduction in the sentence.”
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State of play: Another soldier, Vadim Shishimarin, 21, was found guilty of war crimes on Monday, with Ukrainian judges sentencing him to life in prison, according to The Washington Post.
- “Prosecutors in the open trial proved that on February 28, he killed an unarmed civilian man in the village of Chupahivka, Sumy region. The victim was 62-years-old — he died on the spot from gunshots in the head by a 21-year-old soldier of the foreign army,” Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova wrote on Facebook.
- According to NPR, these cases represent three out of more than 11,000 documented cases of possible Russian war crimes.