Lithuania Urges ICC to Investigate Lukashenko for Crimes Against Humanity

Lithuania has officially requested that the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigate crimes against humanity committed by the regime of Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.

This was stated by The Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania.

The appeal focuses on crimes primarily committed since May 2020, when Lukashenko's regime intensified its targeting of civilians through deportations and the persecution of political opponents.

Lithuania's Ministry of Justice argues that these actions constitute a systematic assault on dissent in Belarus, driven by state policy.

“The request for justice - emanating from the from the victims themselves - must not go unanswered,” said Aarif Abraham, Counsel to the Lithuanian Government before the ICC. “The self-designated ‘last and only dictator in Europe,’ may well indeed be its last, but the hope is he could also one day find himself accountable in The Hague”.

One of the specific charges involves the forced relocation of thousands of Belarusian citizens to neighboring countries, including Lithuania.

Although Belarus is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, the ICC can exercise jurisdiction due to crimes committed within the territories of its member states.

Over 1,000 political prisoners have been sentenced to more than a decade in prison, with 1,500 others jailed for protesting the war in Ukraine, including acts of sabotage against railroads to hinder the Russian army.

Lukashenko has been a close ally of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, has allowed Russian troops to use Belarusian territory as a staging ground for military operations, including the initial invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and has provided logistical and political backing to Putin’s regime throughout the full-scale war.