HELSINKI
\nA Finnish court on Friday sentenced a Russian neo-Nazi to life in prison on war crimes charges stemming from a 2014 clash in Ukraine, with Kyiv hailing the ruling as a \u201ckey milestone.\u201d
\nThe Helsinki district court found Vojislav Torden, a commander of the Russian neo-Nazi paramilitary group Rusich, guilty of \u201cfour different war crimes\u201d committed in the Lugansk region of eastern Ukraine.
\nHis lawyer, Heikki Lampela, told Finnish media that Torden was surprised by the ruling and would appeal it.
\nThe prosecution had accused Torden of five counts of war crimes that resulted in the deaths of 22 Ukrainian soldiers.
\nThe court dismissed the main count, which argued the Rusich forces ambushed a convoy of two vehicles, a truck and a car, carrying Ukrainian soldiers on September 5, 2014.
\nAs other groups were also present, the court said the prosecution had not proven that Rusich and Torden were responsible for the ambush.
\nHowever, Torden was found guilty of leading the actions of Rusich\u2019s soldiers at the scene following the ambush and of killing one wounded soldier.
\nHe was also found guilty of authorizing fighters to mutilate Ivan Issyk by cutting the symbol used by the group \u2014 the kolovrat, or \u201cspoked wheel\u201d \u2014 into his cheek.
\nThe emblem is often used by ultranationalist and neo-Nazi groups in Russia and Eastern Europe. Issyk died as a result of his wounds.
\nTorden was also found guilty of having taken derogatory photos of a fallen soldier at the scene and posting it to social media.
\nThe office of the Ukraine\u2019s prosecutor general on Friday hailed the court\u2019s decision as \u201ca key milestone in holding perpetrators of grave violations of international humanitarian law accountable.\u201d
\n\u201cUkraine remains committed to working with partners worldwide to ensure there is no impunity for war criminals,\u201d it said in a statement posted on social media.
\nAccording to Finnish public broadcaster YLE, Torden was arrested by Finnish border guards at Helsinki airport as he tried to leave the country in August 2023.
\nHe was on the EU sanctions list and banned from entering Finland.
\nUkraine had sought Torden\u2019s extradition, which Finland\u2019s supreme court rejected, citing the risk of him not receiving a fair trial and suffering inhumane conditions in prison.
\nIn October last year, Finland\u2019s National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) completed a comprehensive probe launched in December 2023.
\nThe investigation involved close cooperation with Ukrainian prosecutors and security services as well as Europol, the International Criminal Court and Eurojust \u2014 the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation.
\nFinland applies \u201cuniversal jurisdiction,\u201d a legal principle allowing it to bring charges on its soil for suspected serious crimes committed anywhere in the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
HELSINKI A Finnish court on Friday sentenced a Russian neo-Nazi to life in prison on war crimes charges stemming from a 2014 clash in Ukraine, with Kyiv hailing the ruling as a \u201ckey milestone.\u201d The Helsinki district court found Vojislav Torden, a commander of the Russian neo-Nazi paramilitary group Rusich, guilty of \u201cfour different war […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467105,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-467084","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n