Finnish court sentences Russian man to life for war crimes

A Finnish court sentenced Russian national Yan Petrovsky to life imprisonment for war crimes in eastern Ukraine in 2014. The ruling found his paramilitary unit responsible for the killing of an injured soldier and other offences. Petrovsky denied the charges and intends to appeal.

A Finnish court sentenced a Russian man to life imprisonment on Friday for war crimes committed in 2014 in eastern Ukraine, where his paramilitary unit was found to have been involved in the killing of an injured soldier.

The trial of Yan Petrovsky, also known as Voislav Torden, was a rare instance of foreign prosecutors addressing war crimes linked to the conflict in eastern Ukraine, which Moscow supported before the full-scale invasion in 2022.

Born in 1987, Petrovsky was convicted on four out of five charges related to his activities in Ukraine's Luhansk province, part of the Donbass industrial region.

The court identified him as a member of Rusich, a paramilitary unit linked to the Russian Wagner group. He has been under European Union and U.S. sanctions since 2022.

He was found guilty on four counts, including the actions of his unit that led to the death of a wounded Ukrainian soldier, the mutilation of another, and the taking and publishing of degrading images of deceased soldiers.

"A fixed-term prison sentence was not an adequate punishment," the court stated in its verdict.

Petrovsky was detained in Finland at Ukraine’s request in 2023 while attempting to travel to France using a false identity. Finland’s supreme court later blocked his extradition to Ukraine.

One charge was dismissed, with the court ruling that there was insufficient evidence to prove that Petrovsky’s Rusich unit had organised and carried out an ambush while posing as Ukrainian forces, which resulted in the deaths of 22 Ukrainian soldiers. However, it determined that Rusich fighters had been present.

Petrovsky denied all charges and intends to appeal, his lawyer confirmed.

Copied