An experienced war crime investigator and law professor would start a preliminary investigation into Gennady Timchenko’s alleged activities of the private army Redut in Ukraine.
If A Finnish citizen would own a private army that would participate on the Russian side in an illegal war of aggression against Ukraine, could the Finnish authorities have an obligation to investigate the matter as a possible crime?
For now, the question is just a theoretical speculation, for which there is a lack of evidence, but after the start of the Russian war of aggression, an interesting claim has become public in many countries.
According to the claim, a citizen of Finland, an oligarch Gennady Timchenko would own a private army called Redut, whose soldiers would fight on the Russian side against the Ukrainians.
For example Ilta-Sanomi’s story in February according to several Russian sources, Russian-Armenian-Finnish businessman Timchenko is said to be Redut’s financier and director.
HS told on Fridaythat according to the Russian anti-corruption site Gulagu, Redut’s financier is Gennadi Timchenko, whose company’s security needs the Redut forces were originally founded.
The human rights organization KHPG from Kharkiv again published information on their website in Februaryin which it thought that Finns would be interested when the soldiers of Redut, which is supposed to be financed by a Finnish citizen, have been convicted of war crimes in Ukraine.
HS has reached out to Timchenko to comment on the allegations.
Where does this put the Finnish authorities in between?
At least Finland has experience in investigating crimes committed on the battlefields of other countries.
The Central Criminal Police has investigated three big cases in twenty years: first in Rwanda, which resulted in a life sentence, then in Liberia, which is currently being processed by the Turku Court of Appeal. The third case is the so-called Iraqi twins case, in which all charges for murders committed in the name of ISIS were dropped.
Experts find the question interesting, but opinions on starting a preliminary investigation in Finland vary.
Direct these are the words of Finland’s most experienced war crime investigator, a former crime district commissioner Thomas Elfgren. He has experience with suspected war crimes in the Balkans, Rwanda and Liberia. He would be grounds for investigation. It would be essential to find out what Timchenko’s role is.
“If he has financed while being aware of the object and purpose of the financing, the financier is complicit in the crime. In any case, if there is indisputable evidence that there is an ownership role, then that is the place for investigation. The reason to suspect threshold would seem to be exceeded based on general knowledge alone.”
The preliminary investigation of the decision in Finland would be done by the Office of the Attorney General, before which the Central Criminal Police would of course have already acquired information on the subject.
“Yes, with Finnish citizenship there is definitely reason to think about starting a preliminary investigation. The fact that he is also a citizen of Russia does not remove Potiminen’s responsibility.”
Attorney General Tom Laitinen says the question is worth considering. He is the prosecutor in the Liberia case currently being processed at the Court of Appeal in Turku.
War of aggression, for example, is criminalized in the Finnish Criminal Code, but the Redut case would not be clear-cut in any case.
“If it could be established that such a private army participates in the war and a Finnish person participates in financing it, then the conditions for conducting a preliminary investigation could be investigated,” says Laitinen.
Of course, there would be a huge number of issues to clear up before the investigation even started, not to mention the trial. According to him, one should first find out what has happened and what has been done, and then make sure whether there is a criminal code suitable for that event and act.
“After this, it should still be determined whether the evidence is available to the Finnish court so that conducting the preliminary investigation here would be appropriate.”
He also reminds that the criminalization of war of aggression is still new in Finland and there is no experience with it in Finland or elsewhere.
Britain’s research professor of law at the Academy of Sciences by Martin Schein he also says it directly.
“Russia is waging a war of aggression against international law in Ukraine. If it is true that Timchenko has sent his own private army there to wage this war of aggression, I think that a preliminary investigation into the suspected crime of aggression should be started in Finland,” states Scheinin.
He justifies the matter by the fact that the article specifically criminalizes the actual conduct of a war of aggression by the state, for example in the form of sending mercenaries or armed groups.
The issue has also been discussed in parliament, although so far without a response. Member of Parliament of the Coalition Timo Heino asked in a written question in February whether the government is prepared to take steps to remove dual citizenship from people who commit war crimes in other countries.
In his question, he named Timchenko and the Redut mercenary army and stated that they committed war crimes in Ukraine. For him, the role of a dual citizen as the leader and financier of a private army cannot be overlooked. In his opinion, there should be a law in Finland that would make him lose his citizenship immediately in such a situation.
Heinonen still considers the question important.
“Through such private armies, the Russian state can later try to wash its hands of the war crimes committed. One cannot escape the thought that they are used because they cannot be held accountable in their own country. It can be said that their soldiers are volunteers, not assigned,” says Heinonen now.
Criminal law professor Kimmo Nuotion the answer is more doubtful.
“If it turns out that his army commits war crimes in Ukraine and they also start to result in sentences for soldiers there, then one could think that at the end of a chain the responsibility would also extend to Timchenko,” Nuotio reflects.
According to him, the article concerning the war of aggression, on the other hand, was written with the idea that it always requires joining Finland.
“As a citizen of Finland, Timchenko could also be responsible for the crime of attack, but it is quite a complicated setup that the attacker would not be Finland and the attack would not target Finland. And he clearly doesn’t belong to the state leadership either.”
On the other hand, there are already a lot of war crimes under investigation in Ukraine, and Timchenko’s name can come up even then, he reminds. They can be investigated and tried in Finland without jurisdictional restrictions.
“The possible responsibility of the oligarch staying in the background for the war crimes of his troops is an interesting question in itself.”
Of course, starting an investigation in Finland requires some degree of proof of the alleged crimes. If he happened to come to Finland, he could be arrested, according to Nuotio.
“A Finnish citizen would not be extradited to Ukraine, but justice would be served in Finland. If he does not appear in Finland, but stays in Russia, everything will be more difficult. If he were to be arrested in Europe, Finland could perhaps ask for his extradition.”
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