A Finnish appeals court has overturned portions of a guilty verdict against a Russian-born man convicted of war crimes in Ukraine, reducing his life sentence to 12 1/2 years behind bars.
Voislav Torden, a 39-year-old Russian ultranationalist previously known as Yan Petrovsky, was convicted in Helsinki in March 2025 after being linked to the deaths in 2014 of 22 Ukrainian soldiers and the injury of four others.
The appeals court on August 31 overturned Torden's convictions for shooting a wounded Ukrainian soldier and for mutilation, leading to the lower sentence.
The court did reaffirm his guilt for an ambush in which attackers used a Ukrainian flag to deceive Ukrainian troops before opening fire.
"The Court of Appeal finds that Torden is, in count one, liable for the deaths of the 22 Ukrainian soldiers referred to in the indictment and for severely wounding four soldiers," the verdict read.
Torden's lawyer, Heikki Lampela, told Reuters that Torden denied all charges and intends to appeal the guilty verdict on the first count to Finland's Supreme Court.
Torden was detained in Finland at Ukraine's request in 2023 as he tried to travel to France.
The Finnish Supreme Court later blocked his extradition to Ukraine, citing concerns over conditions in Ukrainian prisons and the potential for Torden to face humiliation in custody.
Torden, a former commander of the Rusich sabotage group, was fighting against Ukrainian forces in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions in 2014, years before Russia's full-scale invasion of February 2022.
