Finnish Court Reduces Sentence of Neo-Nazi Voislav Torden to 12.5 Years
2 sources · Latvia
Who reported this
- Meduza
- Novaya Gazeta Europe
What the colours mean
- Left
- Centre-left
- Centre
- Centre-right
- Right
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The Helsinki Court of Appeal has reduced the sentence of Voislav Torden, a commander of the neo-Nazi group Rusich, from life imprisonment to 12.5 years in prison. Torden, also known as Yan Petrovsky, was convicted on three counts of war crimes related to events in eastern Ukraine in September 2014. The original life sentence was handed down by the Helsinki District Court in March 2025 after it found him guilty on four of five charges.
The case centers on an ambush where Rusich fighters fought alongside pro-Russian separatists. Investigators stated that the group forced Ukrainian soldiers to stop their vehicles and then opened fire, resulting in 22 deaths and four injuries. The appeals court found that Torden participated in the ambush, which involved using a foreign flag to deceive the soldiers. However, the court ruled there was insufficient evidence to prove that Torden or two other members fired on already wounded soldiers, and it determined he held no command responsibility for that specific action.
Torden denies committing war crimes. He was detained in Finland in 2023 for violating migration laws. While Ukraine sought his extradition, the Supreme Court of Finland denied the request due to the conditions in Ukrainian prisons, leading Finnish authorities to conduct their own investigation.
How each side framed it
- Centre-left
- Both outlets framed the event as a legal proceeding regarding war crimes committed by a neo-Nazi commander, focusing on the specific evidence and the court's reasoning for the sentence reduction.
Sources
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