Risto Ryti became the symbol of the entire Finnish war criminal drama. He was the prime minister during the Winter War and the president from 1940 to 1944. The Ryti-Ribbentrop agreement in 1944 brought his career as a statesman to a dramatic end. To make peace possible, Ryti was forced to resign. In the war-responsibility trial, he was sentenced to ten years of penal servitude for misuse of his position causing damage to the state. During his trial he was kept at Katajanokka, where he spent his time writing.

During his political career, Väinö Tanner was in turn the minister of finance, the prime minister and a presidential candidate. Together with Ryti and Mannerheim, he was a central force in Finnish politics during the Winter and Continuation Wars. Tanner was also the most influential representative of the western working-class ideology in Finland, which made him a thorn in the flesh of Moscow. He was sentenced to prison for five and a half years in the war-responsibility trials. During his trial Tanner was kept at Katajanokka, where he attained fame for his exceptionally loud snoring.

The author Hella Wuolijoki, who was convicted of treason, described the February 1944 bombing of Katajanokka in her book as follows: "Sunday night. I write in my cell. There's an air raid outside. Planes saw across the sky and bombs begin to howl. It came in through the window. Window frames and bars were thrown across the collapsing wall. Flames blazed in the window and suddenly I realised that the house was on fire. I heard shouting from outside: 'Open the doors! We're burning, beasts, open the doors.' I try to join the shouts but can't hear my own voice. My lower body has been hurt, I have a cramp in my back, I can only move my arms."