Lithuania has referred hard-line Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko and members of his regime to the Worldwide Felony Courtroom, accusing them of committing crimes towards humanity by forcing their very own individuals to flee the nation
BRUSSELS — Lithuania on Monday referred the hard-line president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, and members of his regime to the Worldwide Felony Courtroom, accusing them of committing crimes towards humanity by forcing their very own individuals to flee the nation.
Opposition teams in Belarus have confronted a extreme crackdown since nationwide protests erupted in 2020 after disputed election outcomes gave Lukashenko a sixth time period in workplace. Lots of of 1000’s of individuals fled the nation and opposition leaders have been both compelled into exile or despatched to jail.
In its referral to the ICC, Lithuania mentioned there are “affordable grounds” to imagine that Lukashenko’s regime has been concerned in “deportation, persecution and different inhumane acts” towards Belarus civilians.
It mentioned that the regime in Minsk “has forcibly displaced a whole lot of 1000’s of lawful residents of Belarus to the territories of neighboring Lithuania,” and different nations which might be signatories to the courtroom.
The Lithuanian authorities claimed that the aim of the regime was “to rid itself, by any means, of all critics and opponents to be able to consolidate the regime’s authoritarian maintain on energy. All direct perpetrators, their commanders and superiors have been clearly conscious of the assault.”
Lithuania mentioned this “quantities to a widespread and systematic assault on the civilian inhabitants.”
As Lukashenko seeks a seventh time period subsequent 12 months to increase his three-decade rule, opposition leaders in exile say he’s ramping up the strain on Belarusians who moved overseas. The goal, they are saying, is to quash any opposition assist from overseas.
Months of main demonstrations over the broadly denounced poll in 2020 noticed greater than 65,000 individuals arrested during the last 4 years, with lots of them severely crushed, in keeping with the Belarusian human rights group Viasna.
