By Andrius Sytas and Mark Trevelyan
VILNIUS (Reuters) -Lithuania requested the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday to investigate neighbouring Belarus over alleged crimes against humanity under the rule of authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko.
The Lithuanian justice ministry said it was asking the court “to open an investigation… into the crimes against humanity committed by Lukashenko’s regime – forced deportation, persecution of persons and other cruel behaviour which is contrary to the main norms of international law”.
The office of Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus since 1994 and is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lithuania’s action drew immediate support from exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who is based in the Baltic state. Vilnius recognises her, not Lukashenko, as the legitimate leader of Belarus.
“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 that about 300,000 Belarusians had been forced to flee the country, with every thirtieth resident of Belarus now living in exile.
Tsikhanouskaya ran against Lukashenko in a presidential election in August 2020 but fled the country after he was proclaimed the winner – a result that the opposition and Western governments denounced as fraudulent.
The election triggered mass protests that were crushed by Lukashenko’s security apparatus. Thousands of people were arrested, while others fled abroad, many via Lithuania.
Belarus is not a member of the ICC, but a court member can bring a case at the ICC involving alleged crimes that are partly committed on its own territory.
The Lithuanian statement said hundreds of thousands of Belarusians had sought humanitarian refuge in Lithuania and elsewhere in the European Union. Over 60,000 Belarusians were living now permanently in Lithuania, “many of whom have undergone or are still undergoing the pressure of the regime and its crimes”.
It said the forced deportation of people directly affected Lithuania’s security interests and obliged it to seek the involvement of the court. The ICC could not immediately confirm receipt of a referral from Lithuania.
Since the February 2022 start of the Ukraine war, which Russia launched partly from the territory of Belarus, the ICC has issued arrest warrants against Putin, his army chief of staff, former defence minister and children’s commissioner.
Russia has described those moves as legally meaningless because it is not a party to the ICC’s statute, and it appeared likely that Belarus would argue the same.
Lithuanian Justice Minister Ewa Dobrowolska said, referring to Lukashenko: “Putin is not the only one who must end up on the bench at the court in The Hague. That is also the place for all his henchmen, which contribute to international crimes in Ukraine and elsewhere.”
(Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius and Mark Trevelyan in London; additional reporting by Stephanie Van Den Berg in The Hague; writing by Mark Trevelyan; editing by Mark Heinrich)
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