In Finland, charges have been brought against Jan Petrovsky, a well-known Russian neo-Nazi and member of the "Rusich" group, for committing five war crimes in Ukraine. The charges relate to events in eastern Ukraine in 2014, when, according to the investigation, Petrovsky and his accomplices killed 22 and seriously wounded another four Ukrainian servicemen.
The charges are related to the suspected activities in a unit called Rusich, which has fought on the side of the Russia-backed Luhansk separatist region against Ukraine.
The suspect is accused of participating in actions contrary to the laws of war as the deputy commander of the unit. According to the indictment, he and the unit's soldiers are accused of killing a total of 22 Ukrainian soldiers and seriously injuring four.
Additionally, the suspect is charged with violations of the laws of war concerning methods of warfare and the treatment of wounded and deceased enemy soldiers.
Rappe stated to Yle News that after the completion of the preliminary investigation, the Central Criminal Police gained an astonishingly clear picture of the events in eastern Ukraine, and the findings are compelling.
Deputy Prosecutor General Jukka Rappe tells Yle that during the preliminary investigation, the possibility of a serious war crime was considered, and this was included in the charge assessment until the final stages.
"Proving this in this case would have required significantly broader evidence than what is possible, and the outcome might have been quite uncertain," he noted.
Rappe also mentioned that the consideration was influenced by the fact that the maximum penalty for a basic war crime is the same as that for a serious war crime. In both cases, the maximum penalty is life imprisonment.
A serious war crime can be committed on four different grounds:
- The crime targets a large group of people, causing extremely significant and widespread harm.
- The crime is committed in a particularly brutal, cruel, or humiliating manner.
- The crime is carried out in a particularly planned or systematic way.
