The Helsinki Court in Finland has sentenced one of the leaders of the Russian neo-Nazi group DShRG "Rusich" Yan Petrovsky (Voislav Torden) to life imprisonment for war crimes in Ukraine.
Points of attention
- Yan Petrovsky, a leader of the Russian neo-Nazi group DShRG Rusich, receives a life sentence in Finland for participating in war crimes in Ukraine.
- The court found Petrovsky guilty of being a member of Rusich group involved in armed attacks in eastern Ukraine in 2014, including murder and dissemination of gruesome photographs.
- The prosecution demanded life imprisonment for Petrovsky for five war crimes, marking a significant legal milestone in the context of the war in Ukraine.
Russian neo-Nazi Petrovsky received a “life sentence” for war crimes in Ukraine
The prosecution demanded life imprisonment for Petrovsky for five war crimes committed in eastern Ukraine in 2014. However, one of the charges was dismissed.
The court found him to be a member of the Russian group "Rusich", which participated in an armed attack on the fighters of the "Aidar" battalion in the Luhansk region. In addition, it was possible to prove that he was guilty of the murder of one soldier, as well as distributing a photograph of the deceased.
At the same time, the court rejected the accusation that Petrovsky, as the deputy commander of "Rusych", led the militants when on September 5, 2014, they organized an ambush at a checkpoint, raising the flag of Ukraine.
According to the indictment, then, as a result of the shelling, an Aidar truck and car were destroyed, four fighters were wounded, and another 22 were killed.
The prosecutor also emphasized that Petrovsky allowed the symbol of the "Rusich" group to be carved on the cheek of a wounded Ukrainian soldier.
Petrovsky himself denied his guilt in court. Petrovsky's lawyer, Heikki Lampela, said he would appeal the verdict.
This is the first time a court in Finland has indicted and sentenced suspects for war crimes during the war in Ukraine.
