Latest news with #VoislavTorden
Russia Today
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Moscow slams ‘politicized' Finnish life sentence for Russian national
The Russian embassy in Finland has condemned a life sentence issued by a Helsinki court to Russian national Voislav Torden over his alleged involvement in fighting against Ukrainian forces in Donbass in 2014, labeling the verdict 'biased' and 'politically motivated.' Prosecutors sought the maximum penalty for Torden, alleging he committed five war crimes as deputy commander of the Rusich volunteer sabotage and reconnaissance unit, which fought alongside the Donetsk and Lugansk militias. Torden has denied any wrongdoing. On Friday, the Helsinki District Court convicted him on four of five charges, the outlet Yle reported. The judges ruled that it was 'indisputable' that on September 5, 2014, Torden, then known as Yan Petrovsky, and his unit ambushed fighters of the Ukrainian Aidar battalion in the Lugansk region, resulting in 22 Ukrainian soldiers killed and five wounded. The Russian embassy described the trial as a 'shameful' proceeding that fits into Finland's participation in the 'hybrid war' against Russia and reflects an 'atmosphere of Russophobia' and 'war hysteria' in the country. 'The verdict of the Finnish justice system causes nothing but deep indignation. The bias of the Helsinki District Court, which issued an openly politicized sentence to a Russian citizen, is obvious,' it said in a statement. Aidar was one of several volunteer formations, mainly composed of members of right-wing groups, which had been deployed to Donbass earlier that year. This followed after the local population refused to recognize the Western-backed violent coup in Kiev that led to the overthrow of the country's democratically elected president, Viktor Yanukovych. The Russian authorities and international human rights groups have accused members of the battalion of committing numerous war crimes. Amnesty International said in 2014 that Aidar fighters were 'involved in widespread abuses, including abductions, unlawful detention, ill-treatment, theft, extortion, and possible executions.' According to the court, Torden participated in the killing of one Aidar soldier and later posted photos of the incident on social media, warning that Rusich would show no mercy to the Ukrainian attackers. Torden's lawyers said they will appeal the decision. Heikki Lampela told Yle that the verdict left his client 'shocked.' 'My client does not want to serve a life sentence for acts that he has not committed,' she stressed. Another lawyer, Natalia Malgina told RIA Novosti that the sentence was handed down solely on the basis that Torden was considered the deputy head of Rusich, 'although in fact at the time of the commission of the incriminated actions he was not one.' Finland, which joined NATO in 2022 and had been a strong backer of Ukraine throughout the conflict, refused to extradite Torden to Kiev after he was arrested for violating migration rules in 2023. The Supreme Court ruled that he would not get a fair trial in Ukraine. Torden had been released but arrested again shortly afterwards and charged with war crimes.
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Yahoo
Russian sentenced to life for war crimes in Ukraine
A Russian national has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Finnish court for committing war crimes in eastern Ukraine in 2014. Voislav Torden, 38, a senior member of the Russian far-right mercenary group Rusich, was found guilty of four charges by a court in the Finnish capital, Helsinki, on Friday, while he was acquitted of a fifth charge. The charges relate to an ambush and firefight that occurred in the Luhansk region of Ukraine, which killed 22 Ukrainian soldiers and injured four others. Torden denies the allegations. It marks the first time charges have been brought and heard in a Finnish court over allegations of war crimes in Ukraine. Torden, previously known as Yan Petrovsky, was a founding member of Rusich, which operated in the eastern Donbas region as part of pro-Russian separatist fighting against Ukraine. Rusich is a subunit of the Wagner group. It was alleged that, on 5 September 2014, Torden led his men as part of an ambush of Ukrainian soldiers by pretending to be Ukrainian, before setting fire to a truck and car belonging to the unit. Twenty-one Ukrainian troops were killed and a further five injured, the indictment said. The court in Helsinki found there was insufficient evidence to conclude that Rusich was specifically responsible for the ambush, as there were several other groups involved. However, it found Torden guilty on all other counts, including that he was in charge of the Rusich mercenaries present during the ambush, who killed at least one Ukrainian soldier and injured another. His men were also found to have mutilated a wounded soldier by "making the Rusich group symbol on his face". Torden was found to have distributed "degrading" images of the soldier and to have posted on social media that Rusich would "not grant mercy". A panel of three judges unanimously found him guilty of the latter four charges, writing that the most serious - of killing a soldier - was "comparable to murder due to its brutality and cruelty". While the court held that there was insufficient evidence to find him culpable for the deaths of the 21 other Ukrainian soldiers, it ordered him to pay compensation to the family of the soldier whose death he was found responsible for. Torden has consistently denied the allegations levelled against him, Finland's public broadcaster reports. He intends to appeal against the conviction, according to national newspaper Ilta-Sanomat. Torden's lawyer, Heikki Lampela, said the verdict had taken them by surprise. "There was no evidence that he killed the wounded or gave the order to do so," he told Finland's public broadcaster, Yle, adding that Torden was "equally confused" he had received a life sentence "for an act he did not commit". Torden was arrested at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport in July 2023 at the request of the Ukrainian government, which sought to extradite him. That request was rejected by Finland's Supreme Court over concerns he would not receive a fair trial in Ukraine - but he was still able to be tried in Helsinki as he was accused of crimes under international law. Yle reports that similar charges have been tried domestically relating to acts in countries including Rwanda and Iraq. The office of Ukraine's prosecutor general hailed the court's ruling as a "key milestone" in holding perpetrators of "grave violations of international humanitarian law accountable". It added in a statement that Ukrainian officials had ensured that the court had heard from victims and witnesses in Ukraine during the trial, adding that it would continue to work with partners internationally to "ensure there is no impunity for war criminals". Mercenaries must swear allegiance to Russia - Putin What is Russia's Wagner mercenary group? Why did Putin's Russia invade Ukraine?
New York Times
14-03-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Finland Finds Russian Mercenary Guilty of War Crimes in Ukraine
A court in Finland found a Russian paramilitary fighter guilty of war crimes committed during Russia's first invasion of Ukraine, sentencing him to life in prison on Friday. Voislav Torden, a Russian citizen who also goes by the name Yan Petrovskiy, was charged with committing war crimes for leading an ambush on Ukrainian soldiers in 2014, when Russian-backed forces first invaded Ukraine's eastern front, according to the court ruling. It was the first time a court in Finland presided over a case involving an alleged international war crime committed during the conflict in Ukraine, and a rare instance of a conviction for war crimes carried out when Russian forces first crossed into Ukraine more than a decade ago. In 2022, a United Nations-led commission of inquiry concluded that Russian forces had committed widespread atrocities in eastern Ukraine. Mr. Torden had pleaded not guilty to five counts of committing war crimes, but a panel of three judges unanimously found him guilty of leading the ambush, murder, mutilation and distributing harmful images online. He was acquitted of a charge linked to planning the ambush because of insufficient evidence, the court said in its ruling. Mr. Torden was a leader of Rusich, a neo-Nazi militia group that fought alongside Russia's military and is associated with Wagner, the Russian private military company, according to the United States government. He and other members of the militia had been sanctioned by the United States, as well as the European Union and other allied countries. Rusich mercenaries are known to have fought alongside Russian-backed proxy forces in the Donbas region in 2015 and to have appeared again on the battleground surrounding Ukraine's northeastern city of Kharkiv in 2022, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
