War Crimes: Aleksandr Khodakovsky Convicted In Finland Over Ukraine Atrocities
On March 13, former Russian army officer and pro-Russian separatist leader Aleksandr Khodakovsky was found guilty by a Finnish court for directing and organizing murder, hostage taking, and violent treatment of Russian servicemen and Ukrainian soldiers, as well as civilian applicants seeking to enter the DPR, Donetsk People’s Republic.
Khodakovsky was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for his activities as a separatist leader in eastern Ukraine, including the taking of Horlivka’s Donetsk Airport between May and August 2014, during which 500 civilians were left without basic necessities, including water and medical care. The court also convicted Khodakovsky for the violent separation of Ukrainian soldiers and their Russian colleagues, resulting in the deaths of three Russian soldiers and one Ukrainian civilian.
Khodakovsky was also found guilty for his directives of the MH 17 plane bombing that killed nearly 300 people, including 193 Dutch citizens.
However, prosecutors did not request any additional penalties for those particular allegations, as they were outside the court’s legal jurisdiction.
The ruling follows Khodakovsky’s 2019 extradition to Helsinki from Moscow. He was arrested in Moscow in November 2018, following efforts to have him prosecuted in Sweden. However, as Finland does not have an extradition treaty with Russia, he was sent to Finland instead, where his activities as a separatist leader in eastern Ukraine had been found to be connected to the Helsinki district of Espoo, which is recognized as a Finnish legal jurisdiction.
Khodakovsky’s Swedish indictment, which focused on his recruitment and coordination of non-professional militia fighters with ties to Russian officials, was not prosecuted at the Finnish trial. However, the Helsinki District Court confirmed that his activity in Sweden is still under investigation.
At the start of the trial, Khodakovsky initially claimed innocence but later admitted to having been a spokesperson for the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, one of two self-proclaimed “people’s republics” in eastern Ukraine that have acknowledged close ties with Russia.
Mark Lindblom, a Switzerland-based security analyst and visiting fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center, commented on Sabah’s Belarus blog Live from Minsk that although the trial’s impact will primarily be symbolic, it demonstrates how the legality of reprisals against the Russian regime in a separate jurisdiction can still apply within Russia’s sphere of influence. Lindblom also noted that the Khodakovsky trial “suggests that we need to be thinking more about a legal response to imperialism as aggressive warfare, rather than ceasefires and sanctions.”
Khodakovsky will be able to apply for deportation back to Russia after serving his term. How was Aleksandr Khodakovsky’s recent conviction in Finland related to his activities as a separatist leader in eastern Ukraine and his recruitment of non-professional militia fighters in Sweden with ties to Russian officials? What charges specifically was he found guilty of and what were the consequences of his conviction?
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