The Lithuanian government has asked the International Criminal Court to start an investigation into what it believes to be crimes against humanity committed by the Belarusian government of Alexander Lukashenko.
These include forced deportations, persecution of supporters of the opposition and other instances of cruel treatment, according to the appeal by the Ministry of Justice.
It says it decided to turn to the ICC after examining evidence supplied by the Belarusian opposition and from other sources.
Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who has lived in Vilnius since summer 2020, backed Lithuania’s request.
“The crimes committed by this regime, from forced deportations to illegal arrests and torture, cannot go unpunished. Lithuania’s courage gives us hope that the world is finally holding the regime accountable for its atrocities,” Tsikhanouskaya said in a statement.
She said about 300,000 Belarusians had been forced to flee the country since the repressions in the wake of the 2020 presidential election, with every thirtieth resident of Belarus now living in exile.
According to the Lithuanian Ministry of Justice, more than 60,000 Belarusians are currently living permanently in Lithuania.
The 2020 Belarusian presidential elections, where President Alexander Lukashenko claimed resounding victory, triggered mass protests demanding changes. The protests were brutally crushed by Lukashenko’s regime that unleashed mass persecutions, torture, arrests and illegal imprisonments.
Lithuania opened a pre-trial investigation into crimes against humanity for the violence committed by the Lukashenko government against peaceful protesters as early as the end of 2020.
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