German lawyers have filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court against Jörg Dornau, a member of the far-right Alternative for Germany party. The move was reported by DW.
Dornau came to wider public attention after it emerged that he allegedly used the labor of political prisoners at his onion farm “Cybulka-Bel” in Belarus.
Lawyers Jan Winterhalter and Ferdinand Moors from the Alliance 90/The Greens party prepared and submitted a complaint to the ICC regarding alleged crimes against humanity committed in Belarus. They refer to the use of forced labor, imprisonment of Belarusians on political grounds and the possible use of torture against them. The complaint was prompted by the activities of Dornau’s company Cybulka-Bel.
In 2024, Ferdinand Moors had already attempted to initiate legal action against Dornau by filing a complaint with the Leipzig prosecutor’s office. Prosecutors ultimately refused to open a criminal case, citing legal grounds. According to the prosecutor’s office, “there were not sufficient grounds to suspect crimes that could be prosecuted in Germany.”
However, the lawyers decided not to stop there and filed a complaint with the ICC.
“The prosecutor’s reasoning seemed insufficient to us. As we understand it, the Leipzig prosecutor’s office looked at a video recording obtained from MDR and said that this information was not enough. But the media’s role is to point to the first suspicions. Finding and questioning witnesses is the task of the prosecutor’s office. That did not happen, which is why we went further,” Winterhalter told DW.
In their complaint, the lawyers cite reports by human rights groups and media coverage indicating the use of forced labor in Belarus, persecution and imprisonment on political grounds and torture in detention facilities. Dornau’s company is presented as an example of the use of forced labor by political prisoners. In their filing, the lawyers ask the ICC to investigate both Dornau and unidentified representatives of the Belarusian authorities.
“Of course, Mr. Dornau does not personally arrest prisoners, torture them or threaten them — that is done by the Belarusian authorities. But he manages his company and gives instructions. He — and this is in fact even worse — simply profits from the suffering of people in a country bordering the EU,” Winterhalter said.
Although the case against Dornau over the alleged use of political prisoners’ labor was not opened in 2024, he has nevertheless faced criminal scrutiny related to his Belarusian business. An investigation was launched on suspicion of sanctions evasion linked to the delivery of a loader to Belarus through a “false transit” scheme in 2022. In February this year, Jörg Dornau was detained during a session of the Saxony Landtag after his parliamentary immunity was lifted. Police questioned him in connection with the case.
