Finland's life sentence for Russian war criminal is clear signal that justice has no borders
global.espreso.tv
Fri, 07 Nov 2025 12:58:00 +0200

Lawyer and human rights defender Yurii Bilous said this on Espreso TV."Why is it important for Russians to be tried abroad? Because they must understand that there is no place to hide. There should not be a situation where they can abuse Ukrainians in Ukraine, participate in an aggressive war, commit war crimes, kill Ukrainians, and then leave and live a happy life in a country where international standards and the rule of law apply," Bilous emphasized.According to him, other countries must bring Russians to justice for crimes they committed in Ukraine. This is called the principle of universal jurisdiction—when a state can try an individual for crimes committed outside its territory."Yan Petrovsky is a striking and telling example of a typical Russian who believed that after going to Ukraine, committing many war crimes, and then leaving for Finland, nothing would happen to him. But he did not succeed. He received life imprisonment in Finland. Ukraine wanted to extradite him and sent a relevant request, but it was not granted, as Finland had questions regarding the observance of his rights," Bilous explained.The human rights defender added that the life sentence for the Russian war criminal is an important precedent and a good signal."We can only applaud Finland, as this requires political will, which Lithuania also undoubtedly demonstrated by detaining a Russian soldier who committed crimes in the Zaporizhzhia region, in Melitopol," Bilous summarized.On November 3, Ukraine's Security Service announced charges against the Russian commander Vladimir Polupoltinnykh, who allegedly ordered his subordinates to torture Ukrainian prisoners of war and personally participated in the torture.On November 6, based on materials from the SBU and the National Police, a court sentenced 27-year-old Russian citizen Dmitry Kurashov, who shot a Ukrainian soldier in the Zaporizhzhia direction.








