A court in Poltava has extended the detention of a Finnish volunteer in connection with a fatal traffic accident
The Poltava District Court has extended the detention without bail of Finnish citizen Roope Mikael Mustonen, who is accused of causing a fatal traffic accident. During the hearing, the widow of the deceased SBU employee filed a civil suit seeking over 21 million hryvnias, equating her husband’s death in the accident to a death in combat.
The defendant’s attorney, Mykhailo Tarasenko, in a comment to Ukrinform, emphasized the delay in the proceedings due to the inability to coordinate the hearing schedule with the victim and the absence of risks associated with holding the foreign national in pretrial detention.
The victim also expressed doubts about the Finn’s volunteer activities and objected to the presence of the media, citing security concerns due to the nature of her late husband’s service. Previously, the court had sentenced Mustonen to six years in prison, but the appeals court overturned the verdict and remanded the case for a new trial. The widow insists that the previous trial was too simplistic and did not take into account all the circumstances surrounding the death of the special services officer.
Currently, the case is effectively stalled due to the victim’s planned extended vacation abroad. The defense considers the prosecution’s arguments regarding potential pressure on witnesses to be unfounded, as key testimony has already been provided in court. Subsequent hearings are scheduled to take place after the schedules of all parties to the proceedings have been coordinated.
The tragic incident occurred in May 2025 on the Kharkiv–Kyiv highway when a volunteer, who had been assisting the Armed Forces of Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion, struck a law enforcement officer, who later died in the hospital. In October 2025, the trial court found that Mustonen was sober, was not distracted by his phone, and caused the accident unintentionally; however, it imposed a severe sentence—six years in prison and substantial monthly payments to the deceased’s two children. The volunteer’s defense team considers this sentence excessive for an accident and suggests the influence of corruption due to the high-ranking position of the deceased’s widow, who heads the Kharkiv Regional Commercial Court.
Earlier, the Poltava City Court of Appeals granted an appeal and ordered a retrial for Finnish citizen Roope Mikael Mustonen, who had previously been sentenced to six years in prison for fatally striking an SBU officer.
Meanwhile, the ECHR awarded compensation for the prolonged detention in pretrial detention of former judge Tandir, who, while drunk, fatally struck a National Guard soldier.
