Finnish court convicts Russian man for war crimes in Ukraine

A Russian national has been sentenced to life imprisonment in Finland for war crimes committed in Ukraine.

The district court of Finland’s capital, Helsinki, ruled on Friday that Voislav Torden, then a commander of the far-right Russian nationalist paramilitary group Rusich, was involved in four different war crimes against Ukrainian soldiers during battles in eastern Ukraine in 2014. A fifth charge was dismissed.

Torden was arrested in the summer of 2023 in Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometre (832-mile) border with Russia. The case involves an armed attack on soldiers of a Ukrainian battalion in the Luhansk region.

According to the court, Torden was involved in the killing of a soldier, among other things. He also reportedly took degrading photos of the deceased, which he later disseminated.

Ukraine hails ‘key milestone’

The 38-year-old defendant denied the allegations in court, the Finnish broadcaster Yle reported. His lawyer, Heikki Lampela, told Finnish media that Torden was surprised by the ruling and would appeal it.

This is the first case in which a Finnish court has convicted someone for war crimes in Ukraine, Yle reported.

The office of Ukraine’s prosecutor general hailed the court’s decision as “a key milestone in holding perpetrators of grave violations of international humanitarian law accountable.”

“Ukraine remains committed to working with partners worldwide to ensure there is no impunity for war criminals,” it said in a statement posted on social media.

Russia slammed the verdict and called the case against its citizen “shameful” and politically motivated.

“The verdict of the Finnish judiciary provokes nothing but deep outrage and indignation. The bias of Helsinki district court, which gave an openly politicised sentence to the Russian citizen, is obvious,” the Russian embassy in Finland said in a statement.