Finnish court reduces sentence for Voislav Torden in Ukraine war crimes case
A Helsinki appeals court has replaced a life sentence for Russian citizen Voislav Torden with 12 years and 6 months in prison, finding him guilty of only three of the five war crime charges related to Ukraine.
On Monday, August 31, the Helsinki Court of Appeal overturned a lower court's life sentence for Voislav Torden, formerly known as Jan Petrovsky, replacing it with a prison term of 12 years and 6 months.
In March 2025, a Helsinki district court had found Torden guilty on four of five charges and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The appeals court has now reduced the sentence and convicted him of only three war crimes, according to Radio Svoboda, citing Finnish broadcaster Yle.
What was proven
The court found it proven that Torden took part in an ambush on Ukrainian soldiers in Luhansk region in 2014 and opened fire on them. However, the court concluded there was insufficient evidence that Torden and two other members of the neo-Nazi sabotage and reconnaissance group "Rusich" were involved in the shooting of wounded Ukrainian servicemen. Torden was not found responsible, either personally or as a commander, for their deaths.
Finnish prosecutors had charged Torden with five war crimes committed in Donetsk and Luhansk regions in 2014-2015. The investigation linked the actions of Petrovsky and other Rusich members to the deaths of 22 Ukrainian soldiers and the wounding of four more.
Background
Jan Petrovsky was born in St. Petersburg and later lived in Norway. In 2014, together with Alexey Milchakov, one of Rusich's founders, he went to fight on Russia's side in eastern Ukraine. In 2016, Petrovsky was deported from Norway to Russia, where he changed his name to Voislav Torden.
Torden was detained at Helsinki airport in July 2023. Ukraine requested his extradition, but Finland's Supreme Court refused, citing prison conditions in Ukraine. Finnish authorities then launched their own investigation into Torden's alleged war crimes. Torden himself denies any involvement in war crimes.
