A victim of repressions in Belarus has asked Lithuania’s prosecutors to launch an investigation into torture and recognise the actions of the Belarusian government as crimes against humanity.
Maxim Khoroshin, who has recently fled from Minsk to Vilnius, filed a complaint with the Lithuanian authorities on Friday. He claimed he was brutally beaten by Belarusian officers on October 13.
Khoroshin said he used to attend protests in Belarus with his wife. One day, three vehicles with 12 masked men came to his home and took him away. Khoroshin said he learned from the officers that he had been under surveillance.
According to Khoroshin, the officers used bats and fists to beat him, and he lost consciousness several times.
In a press conference in Vilnius on Friday, he said he was still being persecuted and received threatening calls.
Read more: Surviving captivity in Minsk. Belarusian detainee recalls abuse and endless beatings
"I have miraculously avoided prison because I fled to Lithuania. But I still receive calls from the investigator, I receive calls from unknown numbers and threats that they are waiting for me in Minsk," Khoroshin said.
He said that “awful” events were happening “in the centre of Europe in the 21st century”.
“We do hope for major publicity and international assistance," Khoroshin said.
Giedrius Danėlius, a lawyer representing Khoroshin, said the beatings and persecution could amount to torture and lead to international prosecution.
Under Lithuania’s criminal code, the country’s authorities are able to launch proceedings for actions that are banned by international law, according to Danėlius.
“We have filed a statement with the Prosecutor General's Office for an investigation to be launched," the lawyer told reporters.
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He underlined that Lithuania's law provided for criminal prosecution in absentia when a defendant is not present in Lithuania.
"We see that in this situation there's a real possibility to launch criminal prosecution over violations of international law and we believe it will be a good [precedent]," Danėlius said.
He noted that Khoroshin recognised the person who beat him, therefore, a criminal case "is not only a declarative, political possibility, but a clear legal possibility to prosecute such people".
The statement to Lithuania's law enforcement said that the person who beat the Belarusian may have been Nikolay Karpenkov, the head of the Main Directorate for Combating Organised Crime and Corruption at the Belarusian Interior Ministry (GUBOPIK).
"I am not ready to say that it was personally Karpenkov, but looking at a photo of this person, and also photos of other GUBOPIK officers, I am almost sure it was him,” Khoroshin's statement reads.
"I can firmly say that I will be able to recognise this person. This man is over the age of 45 with bags under his eyes. He wore a black jacket, black jeans, black shoes. Based on the whole description, the person looks similar to Karpenkov," it read.
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As more victims have been willing to come forward, a centre is being established in Vilnius to coordinate legal efforts to seek justice, according to Alexander Dobrovolsky, an adviser to the opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya who had to flee from Belarus to Lithuania.
"We are coordinating a group of lawyers from different countries who are preparing similar statements made by people” who have been subjected to torture and had to flee abroad, he said.
“We will produce a [registry] of crimes” and will make it possible to report abuses, he added. This would form the basis for launching more criminal investigations in different countries, according to Dorovolsky.
Victim statements on crimes against humanity are being prepared to be filed with the authorities in Belgium, Germany, Poland, and the Netherlands.
Read more: Lithuania pushes for EU fund to help victims in Belarus
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