HELSINKI: A Finnish court on Friday sentenced a Russian neo-Nazi to life in prison on war crimes charges stemming from a 2014 clash in Ukraine, with Kyiv hailing the ruling as a “key milestone.”
The Helsinki district court found Vojislav Torden, a commander of the Russian neo-Nazi paramilitary group Rusich, guilty of “four different war crimes” committed in the Lugansk region of eastern Ukraine.
His lawyer, Heikki Lampela, told Finnish media that Torden was surprised by the ruling and would appeal it.
The prosecution had accused Torden of five counts of war crimes that resulted in the deaths of 22 Ukrainian soldiers.
The court dismissed the main count, which argued the Rusich forces ambushed a convoy of two vehicles, a truck and a car, carrying Ukrainian soldiers on September 5, 2014.
As other groups were also present, the court said the prosecution had not proven that Rusich and Torden were responsible for the ambush.
However, Torden was found guilty of leading the actions of Rusich’s soldiers at the scene following the ambush and of killing one wounded soldier.
He was also found guilty of authorizing fighters to mutilate Ivan Issyk by cutting the symbol used by the group — the kolovrat, or “spoked wheel” — into his cheek.
The emblem is often used by ultranationalist and neo-Nazi groups in Russia and Eastern Europe. Issyk died as a result of his wounds.
Torden was also found guilty of having taken derogatory photos of a fallen soldier at the scene and posting it to social media.
The office of the Ukraine’s prosecutor general on Friday hailed the court’s decision as “a key milestone in holding perpetrators of grave violations of international humanitarian law accountable.”
“Ukraine remains committed to working with partners worldwide to ensure there is no impunity for war criminals,” it said in a statement posted on social media.
According to Finnish public broadcaster YLE, Torden was arrested by Finnish border guards at Helsinki airport as he tried to leave the country in August 2023.
He was on the EU sanctions list and banned from entering Finland.
Ukraine had sought Torden’s extradition, which Finland’s supreme court rejected, citing the risk of him not receiving a fair trial and suffering inhumane conditions in prison.
In October last year, Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) completed a comprehensive probe launched in December 2023.
The investigation involved close cooperation with Ukrainian prosecutors and security services as well as Europol, the International Criminal Court and Eurojust — the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation.
Finland applies “universal jurisdiction,” a legal principle allowing it to bring charges on its soil for suspected serious crimes committed anywhere in the world.
Finland jails Russian for life over 2014 ‘war crimes’ in Ukraine
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Finland jails Russian for life over 2014 ‘war crimes’ in Ukraine
- The Helsinki district court found Vojislav Torden, a commander of the Russian neo-Nazi paramilitary group Rusich, guilty of “four different war crimes” committed in Lugansk
- The prosecution had accused Torden of five counts of war crimes that resulted in the deaths of 22 Ukrainian soldiers
UK PM’s office retracts FM’s comments accusing Israel of breaching international law
- Israel only ‘at risk’ of violations, says spokesperson for Keir Starmer
- Reversal described as ‘disgraceful’ by Council for Arab-British Understanding
LONDON: The office of the UK prime minister has retracted a statement by Foreign Secretary David Lammy accusing Israel of breaking international law by blocking aid to Gaza.
Lammy told the House of Commons on Monday that Israel had breached international law, while a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Tuesday said the country was only “at risk” of doing so. It follows a series of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza that killed more than 400 Palestinians.
“Our position remains that Israel’s actions in Gaza are at clear risk of breaching international humanitarian law, and we continue to call the government of Israel to abide by its international obligations,” the spokesperson said.
“The government is not an international court, and, therefore, it is up to courts to make judgments.”
The Council for Arab-British Understanding described the reversal as a “disgraceful move” that “undermines the government’s claims that it respects international law.” It also exposes a sharp divide between Starmer and his foreign secretary, CAABU added.
Lammy’s comments concerned Israel’s blocking of food, fuel and medicine from entering Gaza.
He said on Monday: “This is a breach of international law. Israel quite rightly must defend its own security. But we find the lack of aid — it’s now been 15 days since aid got into Gaza — unacceptable, hugely alarming and very worrying.”
His acknowledgment of Israel’s violation of international law was a “welcome if belated admission” of the country’s criminal conduct, CAABU said, adding that after Lammy’s comments, the UK government should have announced measures to demonstrate consequences for Israel’s actions.
CAABU’s director, Chris Doyle, said: “Downing Street has serious questions to answer about the government’s continued complicity with Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
“We have raised the illegal blockade with David Lammy and other ministers repeatedly since October 2023 and most recently directly with a Foreign Office minister last week.
“We cannot have a business-as-usual relationship, which is why it is welcome that Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar will not be coming to the UK this week.”
Ukraine’s Zelensky arrives in Finland, will meet defense industry
- The two presidents will discuss Finland’s support for Ukraine
- Finland’s finance, defense and foreign ministers will participate in Wednesday’s meeting
HELSINKI: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived in Helsinki ahead of an official visit to Finland on Wednesday, the office of Finnish President Alexander Stubb said on Tuesday.
The two presidents will discuss Finland’s support for Ukraine, including steps to end Russia’s war, and meet with defense industry companies, it added.
The announcement comes as US President Donald Trump started a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a bid to secure a ceasefire in Russia’s war with Ukraine and move toward a more permanent end to the three-year conflict.
Finland’s finance, defense and foreign ministers will participate in Wednesday’s presidential palace meeting, and Zelensky will also meet with Prime Minister Petteri Orpo and parliament speaker Jussi Halla-aho, Finland said.
During his second visit to Finland since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Zelensky is accompanied by his wife Olena Zelenska who will visit local schools with Stubb’s wife Suzanne Innes-Stubb, the Finnish statement said.
AI ‘reshaping’ organized crime, warns Europol
- Europol Executive Director Catherine De Bolle described the report as a “wake-up call” for law enforcement
- “We will not let organized crime dictate the rules of the game,” she said
THE HAGUE: Artificial intelligence is turbocharging organized crime, from creating child sexual abuse images to money laundering via cryptocurrency, Europol warned Tuesday, with advances like quantum computing only poised to make things worse.
Europol Executive Director Catherine De Bolle described the report as a “wake-up call” for law enforcement, telling top officers from around Europe that “the future of European security is in our hands.”
“This is a fight of the rule of law, for our communities, for our businesses, and for the future of our children. We will not let organized crime dictate the rules of the game,” she said.
In its report laying out the threats posed by organized crime, the European police organization said criminals had seized on the opportunities offered by AI as a “catalyst” to accelerate their activities.
“Rapid technological advancements — especially in artificial intelligence (AI) — are reshaping how crime is organized, executed, and concealed,” Europol said in a detailed 80-page “threat assessment” report.
“These shifts are making organized crime more dangerous, posing an unprecedented challenge to security across the EU and its member states,” the police added.
The use of AI and other technologies are helping criminals across the whole of their portfolio — from drug and human trafficking, to cybercrime and identity theft.
Generative AI enables criminal gangs to hit their targets more globally across multiple languages and even generate child sexual abuse images, the police report warned.
“Explicit pictures of adults can be manipulated to make the individual look younger or applications can ‘nudify’ non-explicit images,” the report said.
“The very qualities that make AI revolutionary — accessibility, versatility, and sophistication — have made it an attractive tool for criminals,” noted Europol.
Technology is also making it harder for authorities to recover ill-gotten gains.
Confiscation of proceeds from crime has stagnated at around two percent, the police said, with the challenge “further exacerbated by the increasing criminal exploitation of digital assets.”
Criminal groups are using cryptocurrency to launder money and move funds around, making it hard to track and eventually confiscate.
“The criminal exploitation of cryptocurrency as a payment method now has moved beyond the scope of cybercrime, and is encountered increasingly in more traditional crime areas such as drug trafficking or migrant smuggling.”
As technology improves, the boost to criminal activity is only likely to increase, according to Europol, noting the rapid developments in quantum computing, the metaverse, 6G, unmanned systems and brain-computer interfaces.
“The high levels of anonymity, speed, and sophistication currently demonstrated by criminal networks will only likely increase over the coming years,” cautioned the report.
Quantum computing in particular will enable criminals to crack current encryption technology with ease.
Finally, the police raised the dystopian prospect of criminal gangs run entirely by AI.
“The emergence of fully autonomous AI could pave the way for entirely AI-controlled criminal networks, marking a new era in organized crime,” said the report.
Trump administration reinstating 24,500 fired workers after court order
- The mass firings, part of President Donald Trump’s broader purge of the federal workforce, were widely reported
- The court filings are the first full accounting of the terminations by the administration
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration in court filings has for the first time acknowledged that it fired nearly 25,000 recently hired workers, and said agencies were working to bring all of them back after a judge ruled that their terminations were likely illegal.
The filings made in Baltimore, Maryland, federal court late Monday include statements from officials at 18 agencies, all of whom said the reinstated probationary workers were being placed on administrative leave at least temporarily.
The mass firings, part of President Donald Trump’s broader purge of the federal workforce, were widely reported, but the court filings are the first full accounting of the terminations by the administration.
Most of the agencies said they had fired a few hundred workers. The Treasury Department terminated about 7,600 people, the Department of Agriculture about 5,700 and the Department of Health and Human Services more than 3,200, according to the filings.
US District Judge James Bredar on March 13 said the mass firings of probationary workers that began last month violated regulations governing the mass layoffs of federal employees, and ordered them to be reinstated pending further litigation.
Probationary workers typically have less than one year of service in their current roles, though some are longtime federal employees.
Bredar’s ruling came in a lawsuit by 19 Democrat-led states and Washington, D.C., who said the mass firings would trigger a spike in unemployment claims and greater demand for social services provided by states.
The office of Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, which is spearheading the lawsuit, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
The Trump administration has appealed Bredar’s decision and on Monday asked a Richmond, Virginia-based appeals court to pause the ruling pending the outcome of the case.
Hours before Bredar issued his ruling, a federal judge in San Francisco had ordered that probationary workers be reinstated at six agencies, including five also covered by Bredar’s order and the US Department of Defense. The administration has also appealed that decision.
In the filings late Monday, agency officials said they had either reinstated all of the fired employees or were working to do so, but warned that bringing back large numbers of workers had imposed significant burdens and caused confusion and turmoil.
The officials also noted that an appeals court ruling reversing Bredar’s order would allow agencies to again fire the workers, subjecting them to multiple changes in their employment status in a matter of weeks.
“The tremendous uncertainty associated with this confusion and these administrative burdens impede supervisors from appropriately managing their workforce,” Mark Green, deputy assistant secretary at the US Department of the Interior, wrote in one of the filings. “Work schedules and assignments are effectively being tied to hearing and briefing schedules set by the courts.”
Bredar has scheduled a hearing for March 26 on whether to keep his ruling in place pending the outcome of the lawsuit, which could take months or longer to resolve.
At least 18 killed in airstrike on market in northern Mali, separatist group says
- The army said it had mounted an attack targeting armed militants.
- Mali, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger, has for more than a decade battled an insurgency fought by armed groups
BAMAKO: At least 18 people have been killed in an airstrike in northern Mali, a separatist group said. The army said it had mounted an attack targeting armed militants.
The Collective for the Defense of the Rights of the Azawad People, which is part of a Tuareg separatist coalition, said Monday the Malian army bombed a market 50 km (30 miles) north of Lerneb, in the Timbuktu region.
Seven people were also injured in the strike on Sunday, the group said in a statement, denouncing a “barbaric act from another age” and a “flagrant human rights violation.”
Mali’s army said Monday in a statement on X it carried out air strikes on a “refuge” in the same area cited by the separatist group, killing 11 “terrorists.”
Mali, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger, has for more than a decade battled an insurgency fought by armed groups, including some allied with Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group.
Following military coups in all three nations in recent years, the ruling juntas have expelled French forces and turned to Russian mercenary units for security assistance instead.
Since seizing power in 2021, Col. Assimi Goita has struggled to curb violence in central and northern Mali, while the army has been accused of targeting civilians.
Last month, the Front for the Liberation of Azawad, the coalition of Tuareg separatist groups, accused the Malian army and Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group of “coldly executing” at least 24 people in northern Mali.
Last year, the rights group Human Rights Watch said in a report the army and Russian mercenaries killed at least 32 civilians, including seven in a drone strike, kidnapped four others, and burned at least 100 homes in towns and villages in central and northern Mali between May and December.
