The Deputy Crown Prosecutor may decide as early as the beginning of the week whether Finland will start an actual terrorism investigation.
The Central Criminal Police has launched a very unusual preliminary investigation targeting the ex-commander of a notorious Russian group to Voislav Torden.
The Rusich military group founded by Torden has been accused of atrocities in Ukraine.
Voislav Torden is currently in the custody of the Finnish Border Guard.
Torden is suspected of terrorist crimes in Ukraine.
The Supreme Court decided yesterday that Torden cannot be extradited from Finland to Ukraine.
The man had been detained in Vantaa remand prison since August, from which the Border Guard picked him up yesterday.
The Finnish Coast Guard said yesterday that it was investigating the conditions for Torden’s stay in the country.
At the same time, in all silence, the Central Criminal Police has therefore started a preliminary investigation of Torden.
– The Central Criminal Police is conducting a preliminary investigation under the guidance of the Office of the Attorney General, says Yelle the Deputy Attorney General Jukka Rappe.
A decision on the investigation possibly within a few days
The Central Criminal Police is currently going through the material that Ukraine has sent to Finland.
The material contains arguments for why Ukraine thinks Torde should be handed over to Ukraine. The material also very likely contains justifications for why the man is suspected of terrorist crimes in Ukraine.
The same material is now also in the Attorney General’s Office.
Deputy Crown Prosecutor Jukka Rappe will make a decision on whether to start an actual preliminary investigation for terrorism crimes against Torden in Finland.
– This decision will be my responsibility when sufficient explanations are obtained in the matter. Hopefully we will receive them at the beginning of the week, says Rappe.
The Kingdom Office has familiarized itself with the material received from Ukraine. Rappe himself will familiarize himself with it at the beginning of the week.
If further explanations are needed, they will be requested from Ukraine.
The Finnish prosecutor and the Central Criminal Police have agreed to meet at the beginning of the week.
The Finnish authorities are trying to make a decision as soon as possible on whether to start a preliminary investigation in Finland into Torden’s suspected terrorist crimes.
Extraordinary criminal procedure
According to the law in Finland, a suspected crime committed abroad can also be investigated, if conducting a preliminary investigation is appropriate in Finland for “investigative reasons and the implementation of criminal liability”.
The Finnish authorities are now considering whether suspected terrorist crimes in Ukraine could be investigated in Finland.
The investigation would be very exceptional because the possible suspect is not Finnish and the crime is suspected to have occurred in Finland
According to the law, in such cases, the decision to start an investigation is made by the Attorney General’s Office.
The public prosecutor also has jurisdiction over terrorism investigations in Finland.
Torden was arrested in July
Voislav Torden, the ex-commander of the notorious Russian group, was arrested in July at Helsinki-Vantaa airport on suspicion of participating in the activities of a terrorist group and otherwise supporting the activities of a terrorist group.
Torden is on the EU sanctions list under his previous name Jan Petrovski and is banned from entering Finland.
The previous identity was revealed with the help of the Border Guard’s intelligence and face comparison.
In order to ensure possible extradition, Torden’s detention was confirmed by the decision of the district court of Itä-Uusimaa on August 25.
The district court ordered that Torden be kept in custody also in September and October.