International conference on ways to ensure legal accountability of Lukashenka's regime
An international conference “Responsibility of Lukashenka’s Regime for Crimes against Humanity and Migrant Crisis: Prospects for International Justice” in Vilnius brought together politicians, academics, lawyers and civil society representatives from around the world in search of solutions.
The Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė welcomed the participants and stressed that, today, the people of Belarus need international support more than ever, that the Lukashenka's regime must be brought to international justice, and that one of the key questions now is how to achieve this effectively. We must resort to all national and international legal solutions to ensure that justice is not delayed.
In her address to the guests of the conference, the Minister of Justice Ewelina Dobrowolska stressed that Lithuania, as a neighbour of Russia and Belarus, which are both ruled by the regimes, has taken on an important mission – to stand up for human rights, international values and the fundamental principles of democracy. The unity and consistency of our political positions is a key support for the democratic movements in Belarus.
The Vice-Minister of Justice Gabija Grigaitė-Daugirdė noted that this international conference is a continuation of the last year's event “Criminal Responsibility for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine: What Are Options for Justice?”. It is clear that the international debate and focus on this topic has produced concrete results. Today, there is no doubt that the Minsk regime is an accomplice of the Kremlin and that it must be held criminally accountable for the massive and systematic violations of fundamental human rights that it has committed and continues to commit.
Ms Grigaitė-Daugirdė stressed that the community of democratic states must look for specific legal tools, including the possibility of establishing a special international tribunal, to ensure that justice triumphs and the violations of international law, including massive repression of the people of Belarus committed by the Lukashenka's regime are stopped, that international justice allows ensuring both the accountability of the state and individual criminal liability of those responsible.
Following the opening of a pre-trial investigation by the Prosecutor General's Office today into the potential criminal transfer of Ukrainian children to Belarus, the Vice-Minister stressed that this is one more proof that Lukashenka has been involved in the aggression in Ukraine from the very beginning, and this is yet another episode which confirms that his criminal liability should and will be unavoidable and a proof of this could be an arrest warrant issued against Lukashenka.
According to Dainius Žalimas, Head of the Law and Democracy Centre, the aggressor country cannot escape punishment for international crimes of the kind currently being committed in Belarus. The international community is committed to prosecuting the perpetrators of international crimes, and this international conference is an important platform for discussing the legal mechanisms to help prevent impunity.
Mr Žalimas noted that the crimes against humanity and massive human rights violations committed by the Lukashenka's regime can be described as dehumanising, which is why it is important to talk about all possible mechanisms for seeking justice, including the pre-trial investigations carried out by Lithuania under universal jurisdiction, which can be a viable and effective instrument for preventing impunity and international crimes.
Ms Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Belarusian National Leader, Ms Anais Marin, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus, Mr Alon Margalit, Legal Adviser of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr Hervé Ascensio and Mr Wolfgang Benedek, OSCE Moscow Mechanism Rapporteurs, Mr Alex Whiting, Professor at Harvard Law School, and other representatives of inter-governmental organisations and experts participated in the event.