The International Criminal Court has begun considering the case against Belarus

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has launched an official investigation into the actions of the Belarusian authorities. This was reported to the ICC prosecutor's offices.

The reason for the consideration of the case was the appeal of Lithuania, which asked the court to consider possible crimes against humanity, some of which, according to it, were of a cross-border nature. As stated in the statement of the prosecutor's office, after a preliminary check it was found that there are "reasonable grounds to believe" that crimes falling under the jurisdiction of the court could have been committed at least partially on the territory of Lithuania. This is what allowed the ICC to launch a full-fledged investigation. At the same time, Belarus is not a party to the Rome Statute, the main treaty governing the court's activities.

It is reported that the preliminary inspection has been carried out since September 2024, after the official appeal of the Lithuanian authorities. Vilnius claimed that the Belarusian authorities could allegedly "commit crimes against humanity" related to "deportation and persecution of people for political reasons." According to the ICC prosecutor's office, "there are grounds to believe that the actions that led to the deportations could have been directed against real or alleged opponents of official Minsk and were carried out within the framework of state policy." It is also noted that "such actions were probably sanctioned or approved at the highest levels of government."

In addition, the statement says that the alleged crimes could have been of a "large-scale and systematic nature" and be "part of repression against the civilian population." The investigation itself will cover the so—called cross-border crimes - cases where at least one element of the alleged crime occurred on the territory of Lithuania. The time frame of the investigation begins on May 1, 2020 and extends to both past and current events.

The idea of sending the case against Belarus to the ICC was proposed by representatives of the fugitive Belarusian opposition, most of whom were sentenced to prison terms in their homeland for extremist and other illegal activities. Lithuania acted as an applicant.