Belarus’ Prosecutor General commented on what countries provide legal assistance in genocide investigation

A number of countries, which were previously addressed to provide legal assistance in the investigation of the case of the genocide of the Belarusian people during the Great Patriotic War, are rendering such assistance to Belarus – as informed by Prosecutor General Andrei Shved, BelTA reports

"We have sent over 70 instructions on providing legal assistance to more than 30 states. We monitor each of them and work to ensure that the places of residence of living SS men and executioners are established – so that they face the trial either in the states they are currently hiding at, or are handed over to us for justice to be administered. We are involved into this work, and we are tracking each such document – seeking justice," Mr. Shved said.

The Prosecutor General noted that Russia is actively providing legal assistance to Belarus. "We have established direct permanent contacts, and joint working groups have been created. We work almost online, and we are receiving a very large flow of documents from the Russian archives these days. Millions of pages are being sent to us, and we generalise and systematise them. They help us identify new, previously unknown places of mass destruction of people – among other things,” he explained.

Mr. Shved added that Latin American countries had responded to Belarus’ requests for legal assistance. “Judging by the ongoing correspondence, we are in a direct concrete legal dialogue with regards to particular persons. It is too early to talk about the results of this dialogue, but this is a constructive work of law enforcement agencies of several states," he said.

However, not all countries are in a hurry to help. In particular, more than 10 requests for legal assistance were sent to Germany. "So far, no significant information has been received from there, but we will insist that Germany submits us the necessary documents,” Mr. Shved stressed, adding that such instructions were sent to the US, Poland, the Baltic States, Chile, Brazil, Australia and a number of other states.

According to the Prosecutor General, serious work is underway in the country to form documents and legal conditions so that Belarusian courts can also convict deceased Nazi criminals – ‘in order to confirm their atrocities specifically on the territory of the BSSR by the fact of a court decision’.

"It is very important – and prosecutors are engaged into this work all over the country – to bring to every child, every young person the horrors of Nazism, fascism and the understanding that this cannot be allowed," Mr Shved added.