The ICC may issue an arrest warrant for Alexander Lukashenko

The European Parliament has called on the International Criminal Court in The Hague to issue an arrest warrant for Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. An ICC office has opened in Kyiv.

The European Parliament resolution of September 13 states that the head of Belarus, like his regime, is involved in the deportation of children from Ukraine, and therefore should bear the same responsibility for this as Russian President Putin and children’s ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova, whose names have already been warrants issued ICC.

In the document approved by the deputies, Lukashenko is named as an accomplice in the forcible removal of more than 2,150 children, including orphans, from the Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine. They are housed in so-called health camps in Belarus, where they are “subjected to Russification and ideological indoctrination.”

In the EP resolution, writes Deutsche Welle, condemns the participation of the Lukashenko regime in:

• Russia’s unjustified, illegal and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine;
• supplying Russian troops with weapons and military equipment;
• production of components for the Russian army;
• the deployment of Russian troops in the country and their training by Belarusian instructors;
• threats to join Russian aggression, coupled with troop deployments near the Ukrainian border that tie Ukrainian troops there.

The document notes that the Belarusian leadership must appear before a special tribunal. The Lukashenko regime has become complicit in the crimes committed by Russia, which implies responsibility for the destruction and damage caused to Ukraine. In this regard, the European Parliament believes that a special international tribunal for the crime of aggression committed by the Russian Federation against Ukraine should have jurisdiction to investigate the actions of not only the Russian political and military leadership, but also the Belarusian one.

MEPs called on institutions and states EU take all necessary measures to “ensure the criminal prosecution of Belarusian officials who are complicit in crimes of aggression, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed against Ukraine.”

Meanwhile, the ICC office opened and began operating in Kyiv – the largest representative office outside The Hague. A message about this appeared on official website Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine. At a joint press conference, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan stated:

“What we see in the issues of partnership between the ICC and Ukraine, the development of partnerships with civil society, with other UN member states, state and non-state participants of the ICC, is not just a spark. This is the dawn of a new time in which we must show, and “We show restraint and perseverance so that our words are not empty words. They are felt by the victims both in Ukraine, where I have the honor to be now, and throughout the world.”

Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andrey Kostin noted:

“This is a new chapter of our cooperation. The work of the office will help strengthen interaction between Ukraine and the International Criminal Court. It will increase the efficiency and speed of response to the crimes that the Russian Federation continues to commit daily against Ukraine and Ukrainians.”

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