美国国家公共电台 NPR--Ukrainian judge hands down a sentence in the first war crimes trial in that conflict

Ukrainian judge hands down a sentence in the first war crimes trial in that conflict

Transcript¹

The court gave a life sentence to a 21-year-old Russian army sergeant² for shooting and killing³ an unarmed Ukrainian man during the first days of the war. Its the first war crimes trial of the war.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

In Ukraine today, judges have handed down a sentence in their first war crimes trial. The court gave a life sentence to a 21-year-old Russian army sergeant for shooting and killing an unarmed Ukrainian man during the first days of the war. War, of course, is always violent. But atrocities⁴ against those who are considered innocent or defenseless are crimes. NPR's Greg Myre has been covering the case, joins us now. Hey there, Greg.

GREG MYRE, BYLINE⁵: Hi, Steve.

INSKEEP: What was the ruling today?

MYRE: So the three judges sentenced this young Russian soldier, Vadim Shishimarin, to life in prison. They did this just moments ago. They read out a lengthy⁶, hour-long statement. They said he admitted that he did it. He knew it was wrong even if fellow soldiers were encouraging him to carry out. He pled guilty last week to the shooting of a 62-year-old unarmed Ukrainian man. And this was just a few days into the war. Now, Russia has said that this case and other claims of Russian atrocities against Ukrainian civilians⁷ are all fake or staged.

INSKEEP: Well, we can presume Russia would say that regardless. But it is hard to prove facts of what happened on a battlefield. So were prosecutors⁹ able to provide persuasive¹⁰ evidence?

MYRE: Yeah. That was certainly a question going into the trial. I mean, even when he pleaded guilty, there were some doubts whether this was voluntary. But the prosecution¹¹ presented compelling evidence. The soldier, along with others who were captured just a day after the killing on February 28 - another of the captured Russian soldiers testified that Shishimarin pulled the trigger. A friend of the dead Ukrainian man witnessed the shooting and testified. And prosecutors said the ballistics matched the gun of this Russian soldier. So all the evidence did line up.

INSKEEP: OK. So they tried to build a case the way that you would in a non-war environment. What other testimony¹² did you hear? And what other voices did you hear around the courtroom?

MYRE: Well, there was this dramatic moment in court last week when the widow was allowed to speak directly to the soldier. She asked him how it felt when he shot her husband. And the soldier said it was extremely stressful. His armored vehicle had broken down. He was trying to escape the village in a car that the soldiers had stolen. They saw a civilian⁸ talking on his cellphone. They thought he might be revealing their position. The soldiers told him, shoot him, shoot him. He initially¹³ refused but eventually did because they said he was endangering all of them. And he told the widow, I understand you probably won't be able to forgive me, but I ask for your forgiveness.

INSKEEP: Wow. Can I ask about the timing¹⁴ of this trial, Greg? We normally hear of war crimes trials after a conflict is over.

MYRE: Yeah, Steve, there seem to be several reasons. The Ukrainians say they've documented more than 11,000 possible Russian war crimes. There seems to be a real gut-level feeling among Ukrainians that they should respond to this as soon as they can. They want to investigate while the evidence is still fresh and witnesses can be located rather than trying to reconstruct cases years later. We should note the International Criminal Court has already sent a large team here, more than 40 people. So they'll also be investigating. But Russia isn't part of the International Criminal Court. There's no reason to believe they'll cooperate. So in a practical sense, Ukraine may be the only entity¹⁵ that will be able to prosecute¹⁶.

INSKEEP: Let me ask about another practicality of all this, Greg. Whatever is said against Russia, as you know very well, Russia turns it back and says that about the other side - that's what you are, but what am I? - the whataboutism. And now we have Ukrainians putting Russians on trial. Should we expect that Russians will also put Ukrainian prisoners of war on trial for war crimes?

MYRE: Certainly, this is possible. As this trial was taking place last week, we had these Ukrainian fighters at the steel plant in Mariupol surrendering. The Russians are saying these were Nazis¹⁷. We're going to put them on trial in Russia. We've had some Russian members of parliament saying that, nothing official. But already, we see that language coming. It does seem quite possible that Russia may turn this around and also hold its own trials.

INSKEEP: Greg, thanks so much for the update, really appreciate it.

MYRE: My pleasure.

INSKEEP: That's NPR's Greg Myre.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？

3 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

4 atrocities   

n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪

参考例句：

• They were guilty of the most barbarous and inhuman atrocities. 他们犯有最野蛮、最灭绝人性的残暴罪行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The enemy's atrocities made one boil with anger. 敌人的暴行令人发指。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

7 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

8 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

9 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

10 persuasive   

adj.有说服力的，能说得使人相信的

参考例句：

• His arguments in favour of a new school are very persuasive.他赞成办一座新学校的理由很有说服力。
• The evidence was not really persuasive enough.证据并不是太有说服力。

11 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

12 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

13 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

14 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

15 entity   

n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物

参考例句：

• The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
• As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体，公司必须纳税。

16 prosecute   

vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官

参考例句：

• I am trying my best to prosecute my duties.我正在尽力履行我的职责。
• Is there enough evidence to prosecute?有没有起诉的足够证据？

17 Nazis   

n.（德国的）纳粹党员( Nazi的名词复数 )；纳粹主义

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Nazis were responsible for the mass murder of Jews during World War Ⅱ. 纳粹必须为第二次世界大战中对犹太人的大屠杀负责。 来自《简明英汉词典》