Yle: The leader of the Nazi group “Rusych” will remain in custody in Finland

The District Court of Helsinki decided to keep the co-founder of the subversive-assault intelligence group "Rusych", neo-Nazi Yan Petrovsky, in custody.

Yle writes about it.

The trial was held behind closed doors and the identity of the detainee was not disclosed, but, according to Yle, the case concerned Petrovskyi.

The Supreme Court of Finland, which considered the extradition case of Petrovskyi, decided to release him on December 8. Ukraine was refused extradition. In making its decision, the court referred to Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Supreme Court believes that Petrovsky may be at risk of torture in Ukrainian prisons. The article states that "no one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment." However, after his release, Petrovsky was taken into custody again to find out the conditions of his stay in the country.

Since the Border Guard considered it necessary to continue the detention, it had to refer the case to the Helsinki District Court.

• In Ukraine, Yan Petrovskyi is accused of participating in terrorist crimes in the ranks of "Rusych" in 2014-2015 in Donetsk region and Luhansk region. Petrovsky, together with the neo-Nazi Oleksiy Milchakov, is a co-founder of the “Rusych” SSRG and was the groupʼs commander when Milchakov was wounded. Petrovskyi in Ukraine faces 8 to 15 years in prison.
• In Finland, at Ukraineʼs request for extradition, Petrovskyi was detained in August 2023. It happened at the Helsinki airport when he was about to fly to Nice. Later it became known that he entered Finland under the name of Voyislav Torden. Thanks to his wifeʼs education in this country, he obtained a residence permit. At the same time, Petrovskyi is under EU and US sanctions, but they are imposed on his real name.
• Finnish law enforcement officers began to investigate the existence of grounds for starting a preliminary investigation of Petrovskyiʼs crimes.