A court in Finland has convicted a Russian paramilitary fighter of war crimes related to Russia's first invasion of Ukraine, sentencing him to life in prison on Friday.
Voislav Torden, also known as Yan Petrovskiy, was found guilty of leading an ambush on Ukrainian soldiers in 2014, during the initial invasion of Ukraine's eastern front by Russian-backed forces, according to the court ruling.
This case marks the first instance of a Finnish court addressing an alleged international war crime tied to the Ukraine conflict, representing a rare conviction for war crimes from the early stages of the invasion over a decade ago. A United Nations-led commission of inquiry in 2022 concluded that Russian forces had committed widespread atrocities in eastern Ukraine.
Despite pleading not guilty to five counts of war crimes, a panel of three judges unanimously convicted Torden of leading the ambush, murder, mutilation, and distributing harmful images online. He was acquitted of one charge related to planning the ambush due to insufficient evidence.
Torden was identified as a leader of Rusich, a neo-Nazi militia group that fought alongside Russian military forces and is linked to the Wagner Group, a private military company. He and other Rusich members have been sanctioned by the United States, the European Union, and other allied nations.
Rusich mercenaries have been documented fighting alongside Russian-backed proxy forces in the Donbas region in 2015 and reappearing in the conflict around Kharkiv in 2022, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Torden was arrested in Helsinki in July 2023 while attempting to enter Finland under a false identity. He was detained under Finland’s terrorism laws and subsequently charged with international war crimes. The trial took place in Finland after the country’s Supreme Court denied an extradition request from Ukrainian prosecutors, citing concerns over the fairness of a trial in Ukraine.
During the trial, evidence was presented that Torden, as a deputy commander in Rusich, led an ambush at a checkpoint, resulting in the deaths of 22 soldiers and injuries to five others. The Rusich militia reportedly seized the checkpoint while displaying a Ukrainian flag. Following the confrontation, Rusich soldiers allegedly searched the wounded and fatally shot at least one individual.
Under Torden’s command, Rusich fighters were accused of mutilating the body of a Ukrainian soldier, carving the Rusich symbol into his face, and sharing images of the mutilation on social media, accompanied by a message from Torden indicating that Rusich fighters show no mercy.
A Ukrainian soldier who was injured in the ambush testified that he recognized Torden at the scene by his tattoos of ancient Slavic symbols and his weapon, a Russian-manufactured PKM machine gun.
In his defense, Torden claimed he was present with a journalist and was involved in filming propaganda videos for the Russian-backed separatists, denying any involvement in the mutilation of wounded soldiers.
Torden plans to appeal the conviction and sentence, according to his lawyer, Heikki Lampela, who stated that his client was outraged by the verdict, asserting there was no evidence linking him to the killing of wounded individuals.
Another lawyer for Torden, Nataliya Malgina, characterized the sentence as “politically motivated.” Torden had previously been expelled from Norway in 2016 for being a threat to national security and later took over leadership of Rusich after the previous leader was injured in 2022.