"This day will go down in the history of Belarus - the first and, to date, the most important step towards achieving justice for the Belarusian people, for hundreds of thousands of victims of crimes against humanity committed by the dictator Lukashenko and his accomplices," said Pavel Latushka, Deputy Head of the United Transitional Cabinet and Head of the National Anti-Crisis Management, following the Lithuanian government's submission of materials to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court regarding transboundary crimes against humanity, namely deportation and persecution, committed by Lukashenko against Belarusians.
The National Anti-Crisis Management (NAM) led the preparation of materials regarding the deportation and extraterritorial persecution of Belarusians in exile from the side of the Belarusian democratic society.
Since April 2023, the NAM has collected and prepared materials on crimes against humanity committed against the Belarusian people for a potential submission to the International Criminal Court. In July 2023, the NAM contributed to an extensive report prepared by the Justice Hub Center for Law and Democracy, which outlines the facts of these crimes, the evidence of their commission, and the tools for holding those responsible to account. Some of these crimes, namely deportation and the persecution of Belarusians in exile, are transboundary in nature, as they occur both within Belarus and in the territories of the States that are parties to the Rome Statute.
The materials collected by the NAM were subsequently submitted to the Lithuanian Ministry of Justice. The Lithuanian side reached a clear conclusion — there is sufficient grounds to believe that Lukashenko and his accomplices have been committing transboundary crimes against humanity.
Today, the Lithuanian government, having supplemented this information with international expertise, submitted the relevant documents to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to initiate an investigation. Only a government of a state party to the Rome Statute can take such a step.
Consequently, for the first time in the ICC history, a State Party has referred to a situation in a Non-State Party under the jurisdictional basis which provides that so long as part of the unlawful conduct occurs on the territory of a State Party then the Court could have jurisdiction.
Also, for the first time, the Prosecutor of the ICC has the opportunity to investigate the situation regarding crimes against humanity committed in the Belarusian context.
What exactly has been submitted to the International Criminal Court?
Currently, the ICC has facts regarding three types of crimes against humanity committed by Lukashenko’s regime: unlawful deportation, persecution of Belarusians abroad, and other inhumane acts
Deportation — Lukashenko's regime forced the civilian population to leave the territory of Belarus by creating an atmosphere of fear and terror through inhumane, brutal, and degrading treatment, politically motivated deprivation of liberty, torture, rape, murder, denial of fundamental rights, and other forms of criminal actions.
According to the assessment by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, approximately 300,000 Belarusians have been forced to leave Belarus since 2020. This represents about 3.5% of the country’s total population, which clearly confirms the significant scale of the crimes. The majority of the victims of deportation are in Lithuania and Poland. In this regard, a similar step by the Polish side, where most of the victims are located, is particularly important.
Persecution of Belarusians residing abroad — this crime involves a series of grave human rights violations committed by Lukashenko's regime against those Belarusians forced into exile, including:
threats to life and health;
persecution of relatives residing in Belarus;
unlawful deprivation of property;
in absentia and politically motivated convictions in violation of the procedural standards for such trials;
denial of passports issuance, preventing individuals from verifying their identity and consequently restricting access to government services.
persecution of a specific group of people — the so-called "fugitives";
use of hate speech.
“Officials, I appeal to you. Many of you are becoming cogs in the huge criminal, repressive machine of Lukashenko's regime; you see only part of the picture and are convinced that nothing terrible is really happening. But true horror is occurring. The 'top brass' of Lukashenko, while committing crimes against humanity, is using you. You need to stop helping them and instead run from them.
Over the years of his rule, Lukashenko has created a state apparatus of mass repression. This is the essence of his state policy — a policy of persecution, discrimination against dissenters, and purging society. The current leadership that shapes and implements this regime's policy includes Lukashenko, Karpenkov, Tertel, Kochanova, Karaev, Kubrakov, Shved, Hora, Khomenko, Eismont, Azarenok, Mukavozchik, and others. They will stand trial," emphasized Pavel Latushka.
We call on other countries to take similar steps as Lithuania. The "Minsk — The Hague" train with passenger Lukashenko has left, and it cannot be stopped now. Lukashenko and his associates will be held accountable. We need the support of as many countries as possible to ensure that accountability comes as soon as possible. We are confident that this will lead to an arrest warrant for Lukashenko.
We are grateful to the Lithuanian government, to Deputy Minister of Justice, Gabija Grigaitė-Daugirdė, and to Lithuania's representative for international legal accountability, Ričard Dzikovič. We thank Member of the European Parliament Dainius Zalimas, the “Viasna” Human Rights Center, the “Justice Hub” Center for Law and Democracy (Lithuania), the International Committee for the Investigation of Torture in Belarus, “Redress” (UK), and “Dignity” (Denmark) for their support. We highly appreciate the work being done by the International Accountability Platform for Belarus (IAPB) and the organizations that are part of it.
After the democratic changes, Belarus will become a full participant of the international criminal justice system. This will ensure that no international criminal can escape accountability in a democratic, independent, European Belarus.
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