Wednesday morning it became known that on the initiative of the Belarusan diaspora in Germany four German lawyers applied to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Karlsruhe (Germany) with the statement about the torture of peaceful Belarusan protesters. Documents and evidence of crimes against Belarusians, committed at the order of the usurper of Belarus Aliaksandr Lukashenko, were collected with the direct participation of human rights activists of ICCI “Our House”.

In their statement, the lawyers stressed the fact that at the moment neither Alexander Lukashenko, nor the criminal structures and agencies under his control can be held duly responsible in Belarus. Therefore, the lawyers have decided to call upon Germany to carry out an independent investigation of the crimes against humanity. The text of the statement also contains a reference to universal jurisdiction, which provides an opportunity to prosecute individuals and organizations for crimes prohibited by international law and committed in other states.

The statement includes the names of more than ten victims of the actions of Lukashenko’s fascist regime. It is known that more than a hundred more people are ready to join the statement, but this will depend on the reaction of the German prosecutor’s office. The Belarusians, victims of inhuman treatment by the law enforcement agencies, told the lawyers about the torture they suffered, deprivation of food and sleep, insults and humiliations, death threats and rape. All this torture had caused significant damage to their physical and mental health.

It should be reminded that in December 2020, the Lithuanian Prosecutor General’s Office opened the first pre-trial investigation into the beating and torture of a Belarusian citizen and co-owner of a flower shop in Minsk, Maxim Khoroshin. Two more pre-trial investigations into crimes against peaceful protesters were initiated by ICCI “Our House”.