The International Criminal Court has launched an investigation into possible crimes by the Belarusian authorities at the request of Lithuania

The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has launched an investigation into possible crimes against humanity related to the actions of the Belarusian authorities, including the deportation and persecution of opponents of the regime. The lawsuit was filed by Lithuania.

This is stated in the ICC statement dated March 12.

On September 30, 2024, Lithuania requested ICC to investigate alleged crimes against humanity committed in Belarus, which is not a State Party to ICC. Lithuania claimed that some elements of the alleged crimes were committed on the territory of Lithuania, which is, however, a member of ICC.

The prosecutorʼs office concluded that there are grounds to believe that the Belarusian authorities may have deported and persecuted political opponents. Some of these actions may have taken place on the territory of Lithuania, which gives the court grounds to investigate.

These are possible crimes against humanity that could have been part of massive and systematic actions against the civilian population.

“There are sufficient grounds to believe that the coercive actions that led to the deportations were a clear course of conduct against real or perceived opponents of the Belarusian government in accordance with or in support of state policy. The Chamber concluded that the alleged crimes committed by the authorities were encouraged or approved at the highest level,” ICC said.

The investigation will concern events from May 2020, when at least one element of the crime could have occurred on the territory of Lithuania.

In 2020-2021, large-scale protests against the regime of Alexander Lukashenko took place in Belarus after the presidential elections. Protesters called for new elections. The protests were brutally suppressed by security forces, and there were deaths. Thousands of protesters and opposition members were convicted, and independent media and human rights activists were also subjected to repression.

The Belarusian authorities forced oppositionists, activists, and journalists to leave the country. Many of them fled to Lithuania.

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