Международный уголовный суд. Фото: icc-cpi.int
The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has opened an investigation into alleged crimes against humanity committed in Belarus.
The investigation has been opened within the framework of the “Lithuania/Belarus” situation, as there are reasonable grounds to believe that crimes falling under the Rome Statute of the ICC were at least partially committed in Lithuania, the Office of the Prosecutor said.
In September 2024, Lithuania submitted materials to the ICC regarding cross-border crimes against humanity committed by Aliaksandr Lukashenka against Belarusians. Lithuania asked the court to investigate crimes committed in Belarus, which is not a state party to the ICC, noting that some of them were committed on the territory of Lithuania, an ICC member state.
Since September 30, the Office of the Prosecutor had been conducting a preliminary examination.
The Office of the Prosecutor will investigate crimes against humanity including deportation and persecution through the deportation of any identifiable group or community on political grounds, allegedly committed by the Belarusian authorities. These crimes are qualified under Articles 7(1)(d) and 7(1)(h) of the Rome Statute.
The mandate of the investigation covers cross-border crimes committed since May 1, 2020 in Belarus, provided that at least one element of the crime was committed on the territory of Lithuania.
“There are reasonable grounds to believe that the coercive acts leading to deportation constituted a course of conduct directed against real or perceived opponents of the Government of Belarus and were carried out pursuant to or in furtherance of a state policy. The Office concluded that the alleged crimes committed by the authorities were encouraged or condoned at the highest levels of government.
There are also reasonable grounds to believe that these crimes were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population, given their scale, the number of victims and the organized nature of the acts,” the Prosecutor’s Office said in a press release.