Russian mercenary sentenced to life by a Finnish court for war crimes in Ukraine

A Russian citizen was sentenced to life in a Finnish court for committing war crimes in Eastern Ukraine in 2014.

38-year-old Voislav Thorden, a senior member of the Russian far-right rental group, was found guilty of four charges by a court in Finnish capital Helsinki on Friday while he was acquitted on the fifth charge.

The allegations are related to an ambush and a shootout that originated in the Luhansk region in Ukraine, with 22 Ukrainian soldiers killed and four others injured. Thorden denies the allegations.

This is the first time the allegations have been raised and heard in a Finnish court for allegations of war crimes in Ukraine.

Torden, previously known as Jan Petrovski, is a member of the founder of Rusich, who operates in the East Donbass region as part of pro-Russian separatist struggles against Ukraine. Rusic is a subunit of the Wagner group.

It is alleged that on September 5, 2014, Thorden leads his people as part of an ambush of Ukrainian soldiers, pretending to be Ukrainian before setting fire to a truck and a car belonging to the unit.

Twenty -one Ukrainian troops were killed and five more injured, the indictment said.

The Helsinki court found that there was insufficient evidence to conclude that Rusic was specifically responsible for the ambush, as several other groups were involved.

However, he found Thorden guilty of all other points, including that Thorden led the mercenaries of Rusich, present during the ambush, which killed at least one Ukrainian soldier and wounded another.

His people were found to have crippled an early soldier by “making the group symbol of Russian on their face.”

Thorden has been found to have spread the “humiliating” images of the soldier and published on social media that Rusic “would not provide mercy.”

A composition of three judges unanimously found him guilty to the last four accusations, writing that the most serious – the murder of a soldier – was “comparable to the murder because of his brutality and cruelty.”

Until the court found that there was insufficient evidence to find him guilty of the death of the 21 other Ukrainian soldiers, this ordered him to pay compensation to the family of a soldier whose death was found responsible.

Torden has consistently denied the allegations leveled against him, according to Finland’s public operator. He intends to appeal the sentence, according to the National ILTA-Sanomat.

Torden was arrested at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport in July 2023 at the request of the Ukrainian government, which seeks to extradite him.

This request was rejected by the Supreme Court of Finland for fears that he would not receive a fair trial in Ukraine – but he was still able to be tried in Helsinki as he was charged with crimes under international law.

Finland’s public operator, Yle, reports that such fees have been tried in the country related to acts in countries, including Rwanda and Iraq.