Former Rusich commander's sentence for war crimes against Ukraine reduced in Finland

The Helsinki Court of Appeal has reduced the sentence of former Rusich Group commander Voislav Torden (Yan Petrovsky) from life imprisonment to 12 years and six months after finding him guilty of three war crimes against Ukraine instead of four.

Source: European Pravda, citing Finnish public broadcaster Yle

Details: The Helsinki Court of Appeal announced its ruling on the appeal against the original sentence handed down to Yan Petrovsky, a former commander of the Rusich Group who used the alias Voislav Torden, for war crimes committed against Ukraine in 2014.

Petrovsky was found guilty of three war crimes and sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison.

In the original ruling in March 2025, the Helsinki District Court sentenced him to life imprisonment after finding him guilty of four war crimes. He subsequently appealed, seeking either the dismissal of the charges or a reduced sentence.

The Court of Appeal ruled that the evidence did not establish beyond reasonable doubt that Petrovsky had personally shot wounded Ukrainian soldiers or that he could be considered primarily responsible for doing so. Meanwhile, the court found that he bore at least partial responsibility as a participant in the events.

The Court of Appeal also ruled that carving the symbol of the Rusich Group into the cheek of a Ukrainian soldier did not constitute a war crime. The court concluded that the available evidence indicated that the injury was superficial and did not meet the threshold for causing severe physical or mental suffering, which would have constituted a war crime.

Petrovsky was detained while attempting to enter Finland in 2023. A court refused to extradite him to Ukraine, citing poor conditions in Ukrainian prisons.

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