11 October 2021
On October 11, at a conference in the German city of Nürnberg, where the International Tribunal on Nazism was held in 1945-1946, it has been discussed how to organize the criminal prosecution of the representatives of the Belarusian regime responsible for crimes against humanity.
Nikolai Bondarenko, who had almost lost his sight after being beaten during the 2010 protests, spoke about the events of 2020: “People were not just beaten, people were killed”.
Former political prisoner Olga Pavlova, who spent more than four months behind bars, said that riot militiamen "staged a full-scale genocide" at Akrestsin prison. According to her, Lukashenka and his henchmen will not stop the repressions, "after all, their goal is to retain power by any means."
Polish MEP Andrzej Galitsky noted that the arbitrariness of the Belarusian authorities should not go unnoticed. He expressed hope that the latest resolution of the European Parliament will make the reaction of the European Union to the actions of the regime in Belarus “fast and strong”.
And the MEP from Lithuania, Petras Aushtrevičius, said that “enough of assessments and conclusions”, have already been made, now the actions are needed, noticing that the repressions in Belarus are still going on.
“The time has come to move on to the criminal prosecution of the criminals who would not otherwise stop committing crimes against the Belarusian people,” the politician said.
"We remember that Lukashenka killed his political opponents: Gonchar, Zakharenko and others. The scale of repression in Belarus is unprecedented for the entire region. Lukashenka terrorizes civilians. We need to raise the issue of criminal responsibility in the International Criminal Court. He's a terrorist. And he will be held accountable", former Polish Defense Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said in his speech.
The fact that “Belarus has no time to wait” was also stated by the Polish lawyer, specialist in international law Tomasz Wiliński. According to him, further waiting may lead to new crimes, including real genocide.
“Alexander Lukashenko is a terrorist and criminal who should be tried on the basis of international law. Europeans and Belarusians deserve that Belarus will be free, ”Vilinsky said.
He believes that there is a state terrorism in Belarus, and the entire state apparatus, including the special services, the police and the courts is involved in the implementation. The lawyer said that an armed terrorist criminal group was created in the country, which includes representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the KGB. At the same time the international law was regularly violated in Belarus, including in relation to the citizens and interests of Poland, he added. Moreover, the Belarusian special services are carrying out operational and intelligence operations abroad to kidnap and liquidate Belarusian opponents.
„The Nürnberg principles of international law state that those who violate the principles of international law must be punished," the lawyer emphasized.
Following the conference, a declaration was adopted, which notes the need to start criminal cases within the framework of universal jurisdiction, to declare Lukashenka's actions as international terrorism, and to create an international tribunal to investigate crimes. In addition, the participants of the conference declared the necessity that not only Lukashenka himself, but also his government will not be recognized being legitimate, and that additional steps to overcome the crisis in Belarus are needed.
