A Finnish court began trial on Dec. 5 for Yan Petrovsky, a Russian neo-Nazi mercenary, for war crimes he allegedly committed while leading a Russian neo-Nazi unit in eastern Ukraine between 2014 and 2015.
Petrovsky is co-leader of Rusich, a Russian neo-Nazi paramilitary unit that has fought against Ukraine. He is accused by Ukraine, and now Finland, of committing war crimes during the Russian invasion of Donbas that started in 2014.
Finnish authorities arrested Petrovsky in July 2023 as he tried to fly to France under the name Voislav Torden, a false identity.
Court documents seen by Reuters indicate Petrovsky faces five charges of committing war crimes in eastern Ukraine. Prosecutors are seeking a life sentence for the alleged crimes.
Petrovsky is accused of co-commanding a group of Rusich fighters who ambushed Ukrainian soldiers, after deceiving them. The Rusich fighters allegedly waved a Ukrainian flag at a roadblock in September 2014. They seriously wounded 4, and killed 22 in the incident.
Prosecutors allege that the ambushed soldiers were executed and mutilated. The use of deception to carry out the ambush also constitutes a war crimes under the Rome Statute and the Geneva Conventions.
Ukraine previously requested his extradition so that he could stand trial for the alleged war crimes, but a Finnish court ruled on Dec. 8, 2023, that he could not be forced to go to Ukraine because it said conditions in Ukrainian prisons do not meet standards set by the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Rusich unit has previously pride itself on atrocities, publishing photos and videos of the torture and murder of Ukrainian citizens. The co-founder of Rusich Alexey Milchakov gained notoriety for publishing images of himself killing a puppy on social media.
Petrovsky has been under EU and U.S. sanctions since 2022.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
(Updated: )
