08.10.2024
Subject: Inquiry Regarding Lithuania’s Referral to the International Criminal Court on Crimes Committed by the Lukashenko Regime
The Honorable Ewelina Dobrowolska
Minister of Justice of Lithuania
Dear Minister Ewelina Dobrowolska,
We appreciate the significant step taken by the Government of Lithuania on September 30, 2024, to initiate a criminal case for the crimes against humanity committed by the Lukashenko regime. This is an important milestone toward justice and accountability for the many victims of state violence and repression in Belarus following the stolen election of 2020.
Background
Since 2020, human rights violations in Belarus, including killings, acts of torture, and beatings, have been equated to crimes against humanity. The United Nations Human Rights Office reported gross violations of human rights across the country, drawing on over 200 firsthand accounts from victims and witnesses, alongside thousands of complaints. The report analyzed more than 2,500 pieces of evidence, including photographs, videos, medical records, and court documents. The UNHRO also documented over 100 cases of sexual and gender-based violence against detainees, including four underage boys, 36 women, and 60 men.
On November 5, 2020, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights released a report summarizing around 700 testimonies collected by Human Rights Watch, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT), Amnesty International, Front-Line Defenders, the Anti-Discrimination Center Memorial in Brussels, “Article 19”, and the Committee to Protect Journalists. This information was cross-checked by the rapporteur using various sources and interviews.
The Belarusian Women’s Foundation has been documenting the inhumane actions against women since the fall of 2020, gathering over 50 testimonies in the form of video interviews detailing instances of physical humiliation. In May 2021, documents were submitted to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to initiate a criminal case against Lukashenko under the category of "Crimes against Humanity."
Additionally, in October 2020, the “August 2020 International Media Project” published over 250 stories of individuals subjected to torture and ill-treatment following the 2020 election. In March 2021, the International Accountability Platform for Belarus, led by the Danish Institute Against Torture (DIGNITY), was launched to collect, verify, and store evidence of serious human rights violations in Belarus.
The World Organization Against Torture, together with Belarusian and foreign organizations such as Legal Initiative, Zveno, and Human Constanta, published a 46-page report titled "The Baton Corridor: The Path of the Belarusian Authorities" on January 26, 2021, documenting the cases of 13 individuals who were subjected to violence between August 9 and 13, 2020, and who were denied justice for torture and police violence. The Committee's experts noted that out of the 614 complaints of torture or ill-treatment received by the Investigative Committee of Belarus and other relevant official bodies. None of these investigations had resulted in a single conviction.
In January 2022, Polish lawyer Tomasz Wiliński filed a lawsuit against Alexander Lukashenko and his accomplices at the ICC. The complaint detailed the artificial migration crisis engineered by the Belarusian regime at the Polish border, the state-sponsored hijacking of a Ryanair civilian airplane, and other documented crimes against humanity, encompassing over 30,000 pages of evidence.
During the election campaign, it became known about the activities of the so-called death squad, which received orders from Lukashenko to eliminate political opponents, including those abroad, specifically in Ukraine. These facts were recognized by individuals involved in the assassinations of prominent politicians and journalists, and were confirmed by Lukashenko himself, who admitted to giving orders "to eliminate these scoundrels."
Questions Regarding the Lithuanian Government’s Referral to the ICC
In light of the Lithuanian government's recent referral to the ICC, we seek clarification on several points:
- Why did the Lithuanian government refer the situation in Belarus to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to investigate crimes against humanity committed by the authoritarian regime of Lukashenko on September 30, 2024, when substantial evidence of murders, torture, illegal arrests, and other crimes against the Belarusian people had already been collected by the end of 2020, and additional crimes (such as the use of migrants in a proxy war against the EU and state-sponsored air terrorism, i.e., the hijacking of a Ryanair flight en route to Vilnius from Athens) were documented as early as 2022?
- Despite being engaged in a full-scale war, Ukraine managed to gather evidence of child deportations within just a few months after the conflict began. Ukrainian authorities, working alongside international organizations such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the World Organization Against Torture, conducted thorough investigations in conflict-affected areas. This involved interviews with witnesses, survivors, and families of deported children, collecting documents from local authorities, intercepting communications, tracking the movement of children, and gathering other forms of digital evidence. Why, then, did it take Lithuania until September 2024 to act, especially when key evidence had been available for several years?
- Why did Lithuania wait four years after these crimes were committed and the primary evidence was collected before taking action? Could this delay be related to the exponential growth of Lithuania's trade with the Belarusian regime during 2020-2021, which included the significant increase in the transit or re-export of Belarusian potash, petroleum products, wood chips, and other goods?
- Were the testimonies and documents collected by the aforementioned organizations regarding crimes such as murder, torture, beatings, illegal detention, and sexual violence included in Lithuania’s submission to the International Criminal Court (ICC)? Do you plan to include evidence previously gathered by other organizations but not yet incorporated into the case?
- Some participants in the press conference held on October 1, 2024, at the Lithuanian Embassy in The Hague had, over the past four years, either discredited or ignored the efforts of various human rights groups to file a case against the Lukashenko regime with the International Criminal Court (ICC). Did they present any new evidence that had not been previously made public or that had been collected by the aforementioned human rights groups and international organizations?
- Can you confirm that the decision to file this case is not linked to the upcoming Lithuanian parliamentary elections on October 13, 2024? How will continuity in this case be ensured in the event of a change in government following the elections?
We trust that your actions are guided by sincerity, and we look forward to receiving detailed answers to our inquiry.
Thank you for the efforts your government has made, and we look forward to your response. To address all concerns, we propose holding an open dialogue.
Sincerely,
Belarus Democratic Forum