Prosecutors in Finland have demanded a life sentence for Russian Torden

Prosecutors in Finland are asking to sentence Russian Voislav Torden (Yan Petrovsky) to life imprisonment for alleged war crimes in eastern Ukraine in 2014. This was reported on December 5 by the Yle television company.

The extraordinary trial of the Russian began in the District Court of Helsinki. Prosecutors have brought charges against him in five war crimes. In one of the counts he is charged with participation in the killing of more than 20 Ukrainian soldiers.

The Russian's lawyer Heikki Lampela said before the start of the trial that his client would deny all the charges.

"He is participating in this trial with confidence. When he is heard, he believes that then the charges will be dropped," - said the lawyer.

Before that, on October 31, it was reported that the Finnish prosecutor's office had filed charges against Torden. Then it was noted that he could face at least eight years in prison.

Law enforcers informed the Russian Embassy in Finland about the detention of Torden at the request of Kiev on August 25, 2023. On the same day, Moscow sent Helsinki a request to meet with the detainee. The next day, the Russian Embassy in Finland said that the Russian citizen was detained by the Finnish Border Guard Service due to suspicions that he had violated Finnish migration laws. According to the agency, the detention was carried out on July 20 when the Russian attempted to fly to Nice from Helsinki-Vantaa airport.

In February this year, Torden was found guilty of violating the ban on entry into the Schengen zone. In late January, the Finnish prosecutor's office demanded a suspended sentence for the Russian for violating the ban on entry to the European Union. Ukraine asked Finland to hand over Torden to it, but was refused.