Speech by Ambassador Pavel Latushka, Deputy Head of the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus, Head of the National Anti-Crisis Management at the press conference on legal responses of the international community to the crimes against humanity committed by the current authoritarian regime of Belarus
1 October 2024, The Hague
Madam President-elect, Madam Deputy Minister, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen.
375 days, almost a year, have passed since we first formally met with the Madam Deputy Minister and Head of International Legal Representation of the Ministry of Justice of Lithuania and discussed the possibility of making this Referral.
Today, we are here, in the Hague. The Referral is in the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. On the International Criminal Court website, a short remark appeared from Prosecutor Karim Khan that “he can confirm that his Office will conduct a preliminary examination to examine the request”.
A short phrase with immense meaning. What does it conceal?
First of all, lives, suffering, and losses of hundreds of thousands of victims. Having gone through the terrifying steamroller of repression in Belarus, torture, rape, imprisonment, deprivation of fundamental rights. Having no other choice. They fled their homeland seeking refuge in Lithuania, Poland and other countries. They left their parents, children, friends, never being able to see them again. They left their property, starting their lives anew.
And now, having gone through all this, the targeted population was subjected to a new wave of repression. The regime continued to persecute us abroad with monstrous efficiency. Judicial harassment, arrests of relatives and friends, hate speech, threats of violence, intimidation, confiscation and destruction of property in Belarus. This is only part of what Lukashenko and his accomplices are doing in European countries today
Secondly, for 4 years, Belarusians lived in a state of complete doom. Our people, having gone through the hell of losses for peaceful defending of democratic values, feel abandoned and forgotten.
However, today, hundreds of thousands of victims have received hope for justice. Hope that one day, the perpetrators will be prosecuted.
Thirdly, an incredible job has been done. By the Ministry of Justice of Lithuania, by lawyers and experts whose names I cannot name. In fact, they have created a new precedent. For the first time in the practice of the ICC, a state party to the Rome Statute has referred the situation to the Office of the Prosecutor in a state not party to this Statute.
The work done required exceptional professionalism, creativity and courage.
Me and my team thank Lithuania, the Ministry of Justice, personally Deputy Minister Gabia Grigaitė and Head of International Legal Representation Richard Dzikowicz, for their amazing work.
I would like to thank our lawyers and my team, the National Anti-Crisis Management, Deputy of the European Parliament Dainius Zalimas and his organization Justice Hub as well as foreign experts who initiated this process in April 2023. 1.5 years of daily work. And this is the result.
Thank you Mrs. President-elect Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya for your support.
And also a special thanks to the organizations that are part of the IAPB, I would like to especially note the Human Rights Center Viasna and the International Committee for Investigation of Torture in Belarus.
This day will go down in history.
In the history of Belarus – because this is the first and today 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.
This day will go down in history. In Lukashenko's personal history, or, more precisely, the personal criminal case of the dictator, who will go down in history as an international criminal.
And now it is the fourth decade when Lukashenko is building his regime of repression and violence. And the formation of this regime is really close to its “highest point”. Think about it – in a country with a population of 9 million people the dictator has already committed hundreds of thousands of crimes against humanity.
Lukashenko has created a whole state policy, as he says, “to clean” the society. All the population perceived as disloyal by his regime is subjected to a conveyor of atrocities. Society is divided into loyal and disloyal. Lukashenko constantly calls the Belarusians, who are subjected to repression, as “fugitives”, “political”, “sharp-hoofed”.
But the time has come for justice and fairness. It is your time, Lukashenko, to be held accountable for these crimes. It is time for the rule of law to prevail over the rule of force.
I want to address the highest ranks of his regime.
Lukashenko's train Minsk - The Hague departed today. Lukashenko is already on it. And he will reach his destination. There are no other options now. No way back for Lukashenko. The process of justice set in motion is irreversible.
We call on all democratic countries to join and support the process of restoring justice that has been launched by Lithuania. And to take similar actions to give maximum speed to the Minsk-Hague train.
I am sure we do not have excessive expectations of our partners, but a request to use your capabilities to bring Lukashenko and his accomplices to justice.
Lukashenko has always dreamed of going down in history. He succeeded. And he will never get rid of it. All history textbooks will remember him not as the first president, but as the last Belarusian dictator and international criminal.
And I want this to be heard not only by him, but also by his circle, his closest civil servants, propagandists. Ask yourself, do you want to share a space with him on this train? Do you want to join him in the Hague?
Or maybe it's finally time to make a decision - and get off this train. Not get on it at all. You know what you need to do. You know where to send the information.
I'm sure there are many of you who want it. Some of you were forced to commit the crimes. But you have a chance to help yourselves, your country, Belarusians and justice. Don't miss it. Get in touch.
Lukashenko thought he could “turn the page” of his crimes. No. His “ballad of a dictator” has come to an end. And yes, we'll shut you, Lukashenko, out of big politics. As promised. You're a criminal. Next station is the Hague.
Do you remember the posters people took to the streets in 2020? “Lukashenko to the Hague”, ‘Tribunal’. Did you think that these were just slogans left in the past? No, this is your future.
Today the rule of law prevails. Today we together restore Belarusians' faith in justice. We are writing the history of a new Belarus. Which will begin after the trial of the dictator. An inevitable trial.
We call on all democratic countries to support the efforts of Lithuania. Use your right under Article 14 of the Rome Statute. Make Justice prevail over impunity. That is what all the Belarusian people want. That is what unites all of us. Desire for justice.
I support today's statement by the Head of the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. The ratification of the Rome Statute by the new Belarus guarantees that impunity for international crimes will become impossible in our country. No international criminal will be able to escape accountability in new Belarus.
Жыве Беларусь!
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