THE HAGUE, Netherlands — An exiled Belarus activist on Tuesday offered a second file of proof to the International Criminal Court that he mentioned proves the non-public involvement of President Alexander Lukashenko within the unlawful switch of kids to Belarus from Russian-occupied cities in Ukraine.
Pavel Latushka, a former Belarusian tradition minister, mentioned a number of the new data got here from “insiders” in Belarus.
“We share additional evidence proving Lukashenko’s direct participation in the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children to Belarus as leader of the so-called Union State of Belarus and Russia,” Latushka instructed The Associated Press outdoors the court docket’s headquarters in The Hague.
The file additionally contains “evidence and previously unknown facts regarding the involvement of various Belarusian and Russian organizations, as well as their leaders and members, in the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children to Belarus,” he mentioned, and offers extra detailed data on a “re-education program for Ukrainian children” at a state-run camp that goals to “change the mentality of the children in Russian world narratives.”
Latushka mentioned the knowledge additionally contains private particulars of 37 Ukrainian kids he mentioned had been illegally transferred from Ukraine to Belarus.
The international affairs ministry in Belarus didn’t remark Tuesday.
In June, Latushka delivered data to the court docket he mentioned indicated that greater than 2,100 Ukrainian kids from a minimum of 15 Russia-occupied Ukrainian cities had been forcibly taken to Belarus with Lukashenko’s approval.
In June, Lukashenko rejected Latushka’s accusations as “madness,” arguing that Belarus has briefly hosted the youngsters to assist them recuperate from the warfare’s trauma.
The ICC has an investigation into crimes dedicated in Ukraine.
In March, the court docket issued warrants for each Putin and his commissioner for kids’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova. Judges in The Hague mentioned they discovered “reasonable grounds to believe” that the 2 had been accountable for the warfare crimes of illegal deportation of kids and illegal switch of kids from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia. Moscow has rejected the allegations.
Latushka was compelled to depart Belarus underneath stress from Belarusian authorities following Lukashenko’s reelection in a 2020 vote that the opposition and the West denounced as rigged. He now lives in Poland.
Any group or particular person can ship proof of alleged crimes to the ICC. Prosecutors assess submissions to “identify those that appear to fall within the jurisdiction of the Court and warrant further action,” the court docket says on its web site. If they do, they might be investigated or fed into an ongoing investigation.
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Associated Press author Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed.
