Earlier this year, the attorney general promised US support for an international campaign to hold war criminals accountable for atrocities documented by Ukrainian authorities. “America and the world are watching very closely what is happening in Ukraine,” Garland said during a virtual meeting last month with his Ukrainian counterpart and other allies. “Every day, we see the heartbreaking images and read the horrific narratives of barbarism … But there is no hiding place for war criminals.” Venediktova said earlier this year that her office was documenting and recording evidence of suspected deliberate bombings of civilian buildings, hospitals and other infrastructure by Russian pilots, as well as mass graves, reports of civilians being shot at close range with handcuffs, corpses. torture and violent cases of rape and other forms of sexual violence. The latest from Ukraine: Ukraine threatened with ‘massive’ Black Sea missile strike, says adviser Zelenskyy: Live updates May 23, 2022: Russian sergeant Vadim Shishimarin sits in the box of the accused on the last day of his war crimes trial for the murder of a civilian, in a court in Kyiv. “The court has found (Vadim) Sisimarin guilty and sentenced him to life in prison,” said Judge Sergi Agafonov. A Kiev court has found a 21-year-old Russian soldier who killed a civilian guilty of war crimes and sentenced him to life in prison on the first verdict against Moscow forces after their invasion. Shishimarin, a Russian sergeant, admitted in court early that he had killed 62-year-old Oleksandr Shelipov in the early days of the Kremlin attack in northeastern Ukraine. In the first war crimes trial last month, a Russian soldier pleaded guilty to fatally shooting an unarmed civilian in the northeastern Sumy region, four days after the invasion began. 21-year-old Vadim Shishimarin was convicted of the deadly attack on a 62-year-old Ukrainian. Shishimarin was among a group of Russian soldiers who escaped from Ukrainian forces on February 28, prosecutors say. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Merrick Garland Visits Ukraine to Discuss War Crimes Investigation
