Ukraine wants to bring Lukashenko to criminal responsibility: details

The President’s Office has asked the Prosecutor General’s Office to check whether there are grounds for opening a criminal case against the self-proclaimed President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko.

Reuters reports this.

According to the agency, the letter to Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko was sent in response to an appeal from the Belarusian Democratic Forum, an opposition organization operating in exile.

Back in May, the forum called on President Volodymyr Zelensky to hold Lukashenko accountable for war crimes, genocide, and state terror. They claim that the Belarusian leader assisted Russia in its war against Ukraine and was involved in the forced deportation of at least 2,442 Ukrainian children to Belarus. These figures, it is noted, are confirmed by the Yale Humanities Research Laboratory.

On July 28, Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Oleg Tatarov informed the forum representatives that the appeal had already been forwarded to the Prosecutor General’s Office. Now law enforcement officers must assess the facts presented and decide whether there are sufficient grounds to open criminal proceedings.

Reuters writes that the chances of seeing Lukashenko in the dock in Ukraine are now almost non-existent. At the same time, the very opening of the case could increase international pressure on Minsk and create new legal risks for the Belarusian ruler.

Secretary General of the Belarusian Democratic Forum Dmytro Bolkunets said that such a decision would be an important step towards holding Lukashenko accountable and restoring justice.