Helsinki Court of Appeal has found Russian citizen Yan Petrovsky, known by the call sign “Slavyan,” guilty of war crimes against Ukrainian service members.

This was reported by Prosecutor General of Ukraine Ruslan Kravchenko.

The criminal, known by the call sign “Slavyan” and the second name Voislav Torden, was found guilty of war crimes against Ukrainian service members in the Luhansk region in 2014.

He was sentenced to 12 years and 6 months in prison.

Importantly, this is the first case in which the guilt of a russian militant for the most serious international crimes committed on the territory of Ukraine has been established by a court of another country.

The court established that Torden was the deputy commander of the “Rusich” sabotage and assault group and participated in an ambush on Ukrainian troops on September 5, 2014.

During the attack, the Ukrainian national flag was illegally used. Torden opened fire from a light machine gun in the direction of Ukrainian defenders.

As a result of the ambush, 22 Ukrainian service members were killed and four others were wounded.

It was also proven that he took and distributed on social media a degrading photograph of a fallen Ukrainian soldier and publicly stated that members of “Rusich” would not take Ukrainian soldiers prisoner or show them mercy.

The Ukrainian side provided the materials necessary to establish the circumstances of the crimes and ensured the execution of requests for mutual legal assistance. This is how the international system of accountability should work.

The Office of the Prosecutor General handed Finnish colleagues materials collected as part of the criminal proceedings in Ukraine.

With the participation of Finnish investigators, 13 interviews were conducted in Ukraine, photographic and video materials were examined, and a forensic medical examination by a commission was carried out.

The participation of victims and witnesses who were in Ukraine in Finnish court hearings was also facilitated via videoconference.

The Ukrainian prosecution thanked Finnish investigators and prosecutors for their professional and principled work.

Special thanks were expressed to the victims and witnesses who, years later, found the strength to revisit these events and testify.

“We will continue to use all available legal mechanisms — Ukrainian courts, international institutions and national courts of partner states. There must be no safe borders or safe jurisdictions for war criminals,” the statement said.