A Ukrainian soldier charged by a Russian military court with murder and mistreatment of civilians pleaded “partly guilty” at the start of his trial on Tuesday in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.
Anton Cherednik was accused of detaining two Mariupol men in March 2022, ordering them to lie on the ground and requiring them to say a sentence in Ukrainian, according to the Russian investigative committee.
When one of them mispronounced the phrase, Cherednik killed him, investigators said. The other victim fled.
Cherednik’s lawyer, Vladimir Bakulov, said his client pleaded guilty during the preliminary investigation but “has now stated that he pleads partially guilty.”
Bakulov did not explain why, but added that he would speak with the defendant and “determine the line of defense,” the Associated Press (AP) reported.
The court plans to begin questioning witnesses next week.
Mariupol, a port city in southern Ukraine devastated by a nearly three-month siege by the Russian army last year, is controlled by Moscow.
Russia has occupied the entire Ukrainian coast of the Azov Sea, whose main port is the city of Mariupol.
The military offensive launched on February 24, 2022 by Russia in Ukraine has so far caused the flight of more than 14.6 million people -6.5 million internally displaced persons and more than 8.1 million to European countries- from according to the latest data from the UN, which classifies this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since the Second World War (1939-1945).
Right now, at least 18 million Ukrainians are in need of humanitarian aid and 9.3 million are in need of food aid and shelter.
The Russian invasion – justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin as the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by the wider international community, which has responded by sending arms to Ukraine and imposing them on Russia in political and economic sanctions.
The UN presented as confirmed since the beginning of the war, which entered its day 405, 8,451 dead civilians and 14,156 wounded, stressing that these figures are far below the real ones.
Source: TSF
